245 IPS/IFS/KAS officers fail to file I-T returns, declare assets ; govt issues notices

Mangalore Today News Network

Bangalore, July 09, 2014:  Chief Minister (CM) Siddaramaiah told the Legislative Assembly  July 8,   as many as 184 KAS, 30 IPS, 29 IFS and two IAS officers have not filed their annual income returns/asset declaration for 2013 and the government has issued notices to them .

Replying to a query by H D Revanna of the JD(S), Siddaramaiah said that KAS officers ought to file their income returns to the government by March 2014 and officers of All India Service (IAS, IPS and IFS) by December 31, 2013.

Only 101 of the 285 KAS officers have, however, filed the declarations, said the chief minister. Similarly, out of the 146 IFS officers, 117 have filed the declarations and of the 143 IPS officers, 113 have filed the declarations, he added.

Siddaramaiah said that out of the 216 IAS officers in the State, two officers — Uma Mahadevan and Mir Anees Ahmed — had not filed the declarations. While Mahadevan was on a year’s leave, Ahmed is the chief executive officer, Karnataka State Board of Wakfs. Siddaramaiah said that show-cause notices had been served on all the officers who had failed to file the declarations. Any further lapses will not be tolerated and the government will take action against them, he added.

KR Ramesh Kumar of the Congress said that the officers had violated the norms by not filing the declarations and should not be defended at all. Govind Karjol of the BJP said that if legislators failed to file their declaration with the Lokayukta, all hell would break loose but officers could go scotfree. The chief minister said the government had initiated disciplinary action, including imposition of fines, against seven KAS officers for not filing the declarations despite being issued notices. The officers are Chikkabettaiah, Mahesh M, Siddalingaiah, Nagaraju, Mohan, M Sridhar and M K Srirangaiah.

Dereliction of duty :  In a written reply to Eshwar Bhimanna Khandre (Congress), Siddaramaiah said that complaints of dereliction of duty and other allegations had been registered against five IAS officers, A K Monappa, M NVijaykumar, M S Ravishankar, Gangaram Baderia and P S Vastrad, three IFS officers, G Sudarshan, S D Patak and S Muthaiah, four IPS officers, P Ravindranath (for clicking photos of a woman in a coffee shop), B Srikantaiah, H S Venkatesh and Jayaprakash V Nayak. There are 20 KAS officers in the list and inquiry against them is being conducted, Siddaramaiah said.