Bihar 1st state to make officials' assets public

Patna: Bihar has become the first in the country to make assets of government employees public by uploading the details of 80,000 officials on the government website, a step in line with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's anti-corruption initiatives.

Ten days after majority of the 450,000 government officials, including Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) officers in the state, submitted their assets' details to the state government as per an official directive, they were uploaded on the government official website late on Wednesday.

"As of now, details of the assets of nearly 80,000 government officials are available online, it is first of its kind in the country," Deepak Kumar, principal secretary of general administration department, told IANS.

He said it will take a month's time to upload details of all the officials.

According to him, asset details of 190 IAS officers, 169 IPS officers, 29 Indian Forest officers, 2,800 BPSC officers and 350 Bihar Police Service officers are online.

"It is part of (Chief Minister) Nitish Kumar's initiatives to weed out corruption," an official in the chief minister's office said.

Soon after assuming office following a historic poll verdict last November, Nitish Kumar had announced that corruption will not be tolerated in the state.

Setting an example, the chief minister and his Cabinet colleagues had declared their assets on December 31, 2010. The details are posted on the state government's official website.

The state government in its circular earlier this year warned officials that their salaries would be withheld if they fail to furnish the details of their assets within the stipulated time frame.

Bihar is also working to confiscate the properties of corrupt officials and turn them into primary schools.

Moreover, the state cabinet Tuesday approved introduction of the much-publicised Right to Service Bill to check rampant corruption and red-tapism in Bihar.

The move is seen as Nitish Kumar's commitment to hasten the service delivery system like issuance of caste certificate to ration card holders, police verification report for passport and new electricity connection to new ration card holder within a stipulated time.

The proposed act is likely to come into effect by April this year, officials said.

Nitish Kumar said the motive behind the legislation was to help people in getting work done within a given timeframe.

During the election campaign last year, Nitish Kumar had promised voters that the corrupt will be sent to jail and their property seized if he gets to rule for five more years.