UP: Over 13 lakh govt employees may forfeit salaries for non-compliance with this order

More than 13 lakh government employees in Uttar Pradesh may not receive their salaries for this month if they do not declare their movable and immovable assets on a government portal by August 31.

The order was issued by the Yogi Adityanath government in August 2023, and the initial deadline was December 31, 2023. The deadline was extended a couple of times after that – to June 30, and then July 31 this year. However, despite the deadline-extensions, there has been only 26 per cent compliance. Hence, the present deadline with the penalty of losing this month’s salary if they do not comply with the order.

The latest order says that non-compliance will also affect promotions. The employees are supposed to share the details of their assets on the government portal Manav Sampada.

Uttar Pradesh chief secretary Manoj Kumar Singh has made it clear that all those who do not give details of their assets by the end of this month will forfeit their salaries for the month of August.

“This measure aims to enhance transparency and accountability within the government. We have a zero-tolerance policy towards corruption under the leadership of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” said a UP minister Danish Azad Ansari.

Opposition parties in the state have criticised the latest order and said that multiple extensions of the deadline showed that the government could not implement its own order.

Samajwadi Party spokesperson Ashutosh Verma asked why the Yogi government did not issue the order in 2017. He said they were doing it now because the government was “on the back foot” and realised that all its employees are corrupt.