TDS Desk:

The interim government initiated an asset inventory last year to ensure transparency and accountability among government officials and employees. After several deadline extensions, the government made submission mandatory in February this year.

Officials submitted their asset statements in line with a directive from the Ministry of Public Administration (MoPA). However, the documents now remain locked away in cupboards across different ministries. In the absence of clear guidelines on how to proceed, ministries, departments, and agencies are unable to act and are awaiting further instructions from the MoPA.

Talking to officials from different ministries and departments, Journalist revealed the scenario.

The Disciplinary division of the MoPA has received the asset statements of administration cadre officials, ranging from deputy secretaries to secretaries and other controlling officers. A little over 6,000 files have been submitted there. Other officials and employees submitted their statements to their respective authorities in sealed envelopes.

According to the latest MoPA statistics, the total number of government officials and employees stands at 1,443,518. Of them, 190,928 are first to ninth grade officers, 293,377 are tenth to twelfth grade officers, 620,972 are 13th to 16th grade employees, and 393,538 are 17th to 20th grade employees. The remaining 5,703 fall into other categories.

The authorities are now facing significant challenges in handling the sealed envelopes containing millions of employees’ asset statements. Many organizations remain confused due to the absence of specific instructions on what to do with these files. Managing hard-copy asset statements has also proven cumbersome, prompting several officials to suggest exploring whether the process could be shifted online.

According to the “Government Servants (Conduct) Rules-1979”, the government servants must submit asset declarations every five year and obtain permission to acquire or sell immovable property. But government officials and employees did not follow this rule for a long time, and the government did not have any supervision in this regard.

After the interim government took office in August last year, the MoPA issued a notification on September 1 requiring all government employees to declare their assets. The following day, Senior Secretary of MoPA Md. Mokhles ur Rahman held a press conference outlining the details.

At that time, he announced that the MoPA had formed a six-member committee, led by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) secretary, to design the asset declaration process. The committee was tasked with preparing a submission format within seven working days and providing recommendations.

Upon completing its work, the committee submitted its format and recommendations, and on September 22 MoPA announced that all government employees would henceforth be required to declare their assets annually. Starting in 2025, declarations must be submitted by December 31 each year.

For 2024, however, since the year was still ongoing, the deadline was initially set for November 30. It was later extended twice, first to December 31 and then again to February 15.

At the time, questions were raised about whether the asset declaration would create an additional burden for government employees, as they already submit annual tax returns. Nevertheless, checks with various ministries and departments confirmed that employees complied with the government’s directive and submitted their asset statements.

Since then, however, the sealed envelopes containing the asset declarations of hundreds of thousands of employees have been left untouched in ministry cupboards. Officials from several ministries and departments, including Agriculture, Home Affairs, Health, Land, Relief, Food, and the Cabinet Division, said the next course of action depends entirely on instructions from the MoPA. For now, the files remain sealed.

When asked whether any progress had been made, Md. Rahed Hossain, Joint Secretary of the Administration Division in MoPA, admitted that no work has been carried out since the submissions. He added that the matter involves the Board of Revenue, while the Disciplinary division is currently reviewing it.

Asked about the asset statements, Joint Secretary Alamgir Hossain said, “We have collected information on more than 6,000 officers in the administration cadre. A database has been created, and the work is nearly complete. The records will remain sealed, but if any questions arise in the future, we will review them. However, I have no information regarding employees’ assets statements in my section.”

No one at the MoPA could confirm whether the asset statements of employees from other ministries would ultimately be deposited. Some MoPA officials, however, said the senior secretary has yet to issue any instructions. They added that if a complaint arises in the future, the government will compare an individual’s tax returns with their submitted asset declaration, and action may be taken if discrepancies are found. This, they said, was the reason for collecting the declarations.

Meanwhile, officials at the ministries of Agriculture, Home Affairs, Food, and Shipping said that in the absence of instructions from MoPA, the sealed envelopes are simply being stored in cupboards and file rooms. The lack of space has caused inconvenience in some offices.

“The public administration will have to issue clear instructions on what to do with these documents,” said one Shipping Ministry official. “Earlier they asked us to collect them, so we did. If someone asks to open them, we will open and review them.”

A Home Affairs official echoed the sentiment, saying, “Since everyone already pays taxes to the NBR, this process seemed unnecessary. Now these files feel like an extra burden. We will act according to whatever directive comes from the parent ministry.”