TMC spokesperson Saket Gokhale moves Delhi High Court for making property details of ED Director public

A petition has been filed in the Delhi High Court seeking directions to the Central government to make public the immovable property details of Enforcement Directorate (ED) Chief SK Mishra (Saket Gokhale v. UOI and Ors)..The petition filed by Trinamool Congress (TMC) national spokesperson Saket Gokhale argued that an office order was issued by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) in November last year, fixing November 30, 2020 as the deadline for filing of annual immovable/movable property returns up to the year 2019 by all civil servants. The order had said that disciplinary action shall be initiated against officers who fail to meet the deadline..Gokhale added that Mishra is also bound by this order and is obliged to file his immovable property returns. However, as per the information available on the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) website, his annual returns for the years 2018, 2019 and 2020 have not been uploaded. The petition said that Mishra’s annual returns for the years 2013 and 2014 are also not on the website.“Annual filing of IPRs by officials and uploading the same on the website is a matter of immense public importance as it is an integral part of the citizens’ fundamental right to information and knowledge. The Petitioner pointed out this fact on Twitter to the Enforcement Directorate and the Union Finance Minister of non-availability of information about IPRs for several years of the said officer on the Cadre Management System Database of the CBDT website. However, he was informed by one journalist, namely, Ashish Mehrishi, that the annual IPRs have already been filed by the officer but have not been updated on the website,” read the petition..The petition added that keeping such information up-to-date on the website is essential for transparency and it is important that officers responsible for maintaining and updating the database on the website be held accountable for this default.“This failure on the part of the officers responsible for maintaining and updating the database on the website is a serious mishap especially considering the importance of the post that the said officer currently occupies,” it said.Gokhale has also sought an inquiry against the ‘delinquent officers’ for their failure to upload these important details.“It is important that the officers responsible for maintaining and updating the database on the website be held accountable for this default and punished suitably. Therefore, a departmental inquiry should be initiated forthwith against such erring officers. This becomes all the more important in view of the fact that the information pertaining to the annual IPRs of numerous other officers of IRS, including those from the ED, is up-to-date on the database available on the CBDT website, with annual returns as recently as of the previous year 2020 available on it,” it said.