Bihar Effect: Rajasthan may ask its bureaucrats to declare assets publicly

RAJASTHAN may follow Bihar in asking its bureaucrats including IAS and IPS to declare their assets publicly. It was indicated by none other than state chief minister Ashok Gehlot after a crucial cabinet meeting held on Friday. Gehlot told reporters that the issue of posting assets and liabilities of IAS, IPS officers etc. at government websites was discussed in the cabinet meeting.

The Rajasthan government is also looking at the legal issues as in some states like Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, a handful of bureaucrats had challenged state information commissioner’s order of making their assets public in certain cases. Currently, the government officials need to declare assets, but it has not been made public so far.

A few days ago, Rajasthan government officials made enquiries at Bihar’s General Administration Department how it had asked Class I, II and III officials to furnish details about their assets and keep a deadline of February 28. Bihar government has repeatedly mentioned that it would not allow relaxation of the deadline on any ground.

SMS puts a lady IAS officer on the dock

A local court of Andhra Pradesh has directed the police to book a case against 1981 batch Karnataka cadre IAS officer K Ratna Prabha for allegedly threatening a woman of Hanumanthunipadu village near Kanigiri. The victim produced a number of SMSes sent by Ratna Prabha as evidences in the court.

According to some reports, the IAS officer suspected the role of her husband Vidyasagar, also an IAS officer in helping the woman purchase a huge piece of property. 

Action and Appointments

KTS. Tulsi, Senior Advocate has been appointed as Vice Chairman of the 19th Law Commission of India on a part-time basis. In addition to him, there are two full-time members and eight part-time members currently in position in the Commission. The 19th Law Commission of India was constituted on September 1, 2009 for period of three years. Currently, Justice PV Reddy, retired Judge of the Supreme Court is the Chairman and Dr BA Agrawal is the Member Secretary of the Commission.