Movable, immovable and valuable property

18. Movable, immovable and valuable property

(1) (i) Every Government servant shall on his first appointment to any service or post submit a return of his assets and liabilities, in such form as may be prescribed by the Government, giving the full particulars regarding -

(a) the immovable property inherited by him, or owned or acquired by him or held by him on lease or mortgage, either in his own name or in the name of any member of his family or in the name of any other person;

(b) shares, debentures and cash including bank deposits inherited by him or similarly owned, acquired, or held by him;

(c) other movable property inherited by him or similarly owned, acquired or held by him; and

(d) debts and other liabilities incurred by him directly or indirectly.

NOTE 1.- Sub-rule (1) shall not ordinarily apply to Group ‘D’ servants but the Government may direct that it shall apply to any such Government servant or class of such Government servants.

NOTE 2.- In all returns, the values of items of movable property worth less than Rs.10000 may be added and shown as a lump sum. The value of articles of daily use such as clothes, utensils, crockery, books, etc. need not be included in such return.

NOTE 3.- Where a Government servant already belonging to a service or holding a post is appointed to any other civil service or post, he shall not be required to submit a fresh return under this clause.

(ii) Every Government servant belonging to any service or holding any post included in Group 'A' and Group 'B' shall submit an annual return in such form as may be prescribed by the Government in this regard giving full particulars regarding the immovable property inherited by him or owned or acquired by him or held by him on lease or mortgage either in his own name or in the name of any member of his family or in the name of any other person.

(2) No Government servant shall, except with the previous knowledge of the prescribed authority, acquire or dispose of any immovable property by lease, mortgage, purchase, sale, gift or otherwise either in his own name or in the name of any member of his family:

Provided that the previous sanction of the prescribed authority shall be obtained by the Government servant if any such transaction is with a person having official dealings with him

(3) Where a Government servant enters into a transaction in respect of movable property either in his own name or in the name of the member of his family, he shall, within one month from the date of such transaction, report the same to the prescribed authority, if the value of such property exceeds twenty thousand rupees in the case of a Government servant holding any Group ‘A’ or Group ‘B’ post or fifteen thousand rupees in the case of a Government servant holding any Group ‘C’ or Group ‘D’ post:

Provided that the previous sanction of the prescribed authority shall be obtained by the Government servant if any such transaction is with a person having official dealings with him.

(4) The Government or the prescribed authority may, at any time, by general or special order, require a Government servant to furnish, within a period specified in the order, a full and complete statement of such movable or immovable property held or acquired by him or on his behalf or by any member of his family as may be specified in the order. Such statement shall, if so required by the Government or by the prescribed authority, include the details of the means by which, or the source from which, such property was acquired.

(5) The Government may exempt any category of Government servants belonging to Group ‘C’ or Group ‘D’ from any of the provisions of this rule except sub-rule (4). No such exemption shall, however, be made without the concurrence of the Cabinet Secretariat (Department of Personnel).

Explanation I. - For the purposes of this rule -

(1) the expression "movable property" includes-

(a) jewellery, insurance policies, the annual premia of which exceeds Rs.10,000/- or one-sixth of the total annual emoluments received from Government, whichever is less, shares, securities and debentures;

(b) all loans, whether secured or not, advanced or taken by the Government servant;

(c) motor cars, motor cycles, horses or any other means of conveyance; and

(d) refrigerators, radios radiograms and television sets.

2. "Prescribed authority" means-

(a) (i) the Government, in the case of a Government servant holding any Group ‘A’ post, except where any lower authority is specifically specified by the Government for any purpose;

(ii) Head of Department, in the case of a Government servant holding any Group ‘B’ post;

(iii) Head of Office, in the case of a Government servant holding any Group ‘C’ or Group ‘D’ post;

(b) in respect of a Government servant on foreign service or on deputation to any other Ministry or any other Government, the parent department on the cadre of which such Government servant is borne or the Ministry to which he is administratively subordinate as member of that cadre.

Explanation II.- For the purpose of this rule 'lease' means, except where it is obtained from, or granted to, a person having official dealings with the Government servant, a lease of immovable property from year to year or for any term exceeding one year or reserving a yearly rent.

Government of India Decisions

(1) General instructions regarding submission of the return for immovable property-House-building is clearly a transaction in immovable property-‘prescribed’ authorities, who would exercise authority-returns to be treated as secret and kept along with character rolls.

Under sub-rule 3 of Rule 15 of the Central Civil Service (Conduct) Rules, 1955 (now Rule 18 of 1964 Rules) every member of Class I (Group A) and Class II (Group B) services shall, on first appointment to Government service and thereafter at intervals of 12 months, submit a return of immovable property owned, acquired or inherited by him or held by him on lease or mortgage, either in his own name or in the name of any member of his family or in the name of any other person. It has been decided that this return shall be submitted in the form (Annexure) attached to this Office Memorandum, to the authority prescribed in Explanation (a) to sub-Rule 15 (1) [now Rule 18 (2)] of these rules within a month of their appointment and subsequently in the month of January every year. The initial return should show the position as on the date of their appointment and subsequent returns as on the 1st January of the year in which they are submitted. In the case of persons already in service, the first return, if one has not already been submitted, shall indicate the position as on the 1st January, 1956.

2. These returns shall be treated as secret and shall, after such scrutiny as may be considered necessary, be kept in the custody of the authority which maintains the Character rolls of the officers concerned; they should not, however, be filed in the Character roll itself, but kept separately.

3. Reference is invited to Explanation (a) (i) under rule 15 (1) [now Explanation I (2) of Rule 18] of the Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 1955. The question has been raised as to which authority in Government should appropriately exercise the functions of the prescribed authority as mentioned in this Explanation. In respect of Class I (Group A) officers intended to man posts in or under more than one Ministry, the Ministry administratively concerned with the post or service of which the Government servant is a member, should act as the prescribed authority in this connection. In the latter case, the functions of the prescribed authority would be discharged by the Ministry which controls the service in question. An instance of a service of this nature is the Central Secretariat Service which is controlled by the Home Ministry but is intended to man posts in and under the various Ministries. For a Class I (Group A) officer of this service, therefore, the prescribed authority for purposes of Rule 15 (Now rule 18) would be the Ministry of Home Affairs. In the case of Class II and Class III (Group B and Group C) officers of this and such other services, however, Explanation (a) (ii) and (a) (iii) would apply and the functions of the prescribed authority would be discharged by the Head of the Department or the Head of the Office in which he is for the time being employed, as the case may be.

4. A question has also been asked whether construction of a house requires the previous knowledge or sanction, as the case may be, of the prescribed authority under rule 15 (now Rule 18) of the Conduct Rules. Since such construction results in the acquisition of an immovable property, the provisions of this rule are clearly attracted. A Government servant should, therefore, report to, or seek the permission of, the prescribed authority as the case may be, before commencing the construction of, or addition to, any building.

ANNEXURE

FORM

Statement of Immovable property on first appointment for the year

1. Name of officer (in full) and service to which the officer belongs…………………….

2. Present post held…………………………

3. Present pay ………………………..

Signature……………………………

Date……………………………………

Inapplicable clause to be struck out.

*In case where it is not possible to assess the value accurately the approximate value in relation to present conditions may be indicated.

@n Includes short-term lease also.

Note – The declaration form is required to be filled in and submitted by every member of Class I and Class II (Group A and Group B) services under rule 15 (3) of the Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 1955, [now rule 18 (1) of the CCS (Conduct) Rules, 1964] on the first appointment to the service and thereafter at the interval of every twelve months, giving particulars of all immovable property owned, acquired or inherited by him or held by him on lease or mortgage, either in his own name or in the name of any members of his family or in the name of any other person.

[MHA OM No. 25/10/55-Estt.(A), dated 12.01.1956]

(2) Question whether report of conclusion of a transaction in immovable property should be made forthwith in cases where prior permission to purchase such property was obtained and the amount involved was/was not indicated.

A point was raised whether it is necessary for a Government servant once he had got permission of Government to the purchase of immovable property, report the actual acquisition of it immediately on the conclusion of the transaction. If the first sanction specifies the details of the transaction and the amount involved, a further report is not necessary but if such details are not furnished at the time of sanction, a further report after the acquisition giving full details should be made. The property should, of course, figure in his subsequent annual returns of immovable property in either case.

[Min. of W.H. & S.O.M. No. AV(37) dated 05.12.1956]

(3) Form of report standardized for cases involving purchase of land, construction of building and additions alterations to an existing building.

In para 4 of the orders cited at Decision No. (10) it is explained that the construction of a house amounted to acquisition of immovable property for which the previous knowledge or sanction, as the case may be, of the prescribed authority was required under Rules 15 (now Rule 18) of the Central Civil Service (Conduct) Rules. A question has been raised whether the purchase of movable property required for the construction of the house comes within the scope of rule 15 (2) [now Rule 18 (3)] of the Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, which requires that a report of such transactions shall forthwith be sent to the prescribed authority. It would obviously be cumbersome and inconvenient if such reports have to be made in respect of purchases made in connection with the building of the house. At the same time, the purpose of the rule would be defeated if a check is not kept on such purchases merely because permission has been given for the building of the house just before the construction begins. It has, therefore, been decided that whenever a Government servant wishes to build a house the following procedure should be followed.

Before starting construction of the house, he should report or seek permission, as the case may be, in Form I and after completion of the house, he should report in Form II to the prescribed authority.

[MHA OM No. 25/21/57-Ests.(A), dated 11.06.1957]

(4) Reference Ministry of Home Affairs OM No. 25/21/57-Ests.(A), dated the 11th June, 1957 (Decision No. 3 above)

It has further been decided that –

(i) the details in the proforma prescribed should be furnished whenever it is possible to do so. Where, however it is not possible to furnish these details, the Government servant concerned should mention the covered area on which the building is proposed to be erected and the estimated cost of the building;

(ii) In cases where the expenditure to be incurred on repairs or minor construction work in respect of any immovable property belonging to a Government servant is estimated to exceed Rs. 1,000 (now Rs. 10,000) the provisions of the Office Memorandum mentioned above will also apply to such cases;

(iii) the existing caption in Form I may be amended as follows :-

"[Form of report/application (for permission) to the prescribed authority for the building of or addition to a house]" and the existing caption in Form II as – 

"(Form of report to the prescribed authority after completion of the building/extension of a house)".

[MHA OM No. 25/21/51-Ests.(A), dated 18.12.1957]