THE LOKPAL AND LOKAYUKTAS (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2016

44. (1) Every public servant shall make a declaration of his
assets and liabilities in the manner as provided by or under this Act.

(2) A public servant shall, within a
period of thirty days from the date on which he makes and subscribes an oath or
affirmation to enter upon his office, furnish to the competent authority the
information relating to—

(a) the assets of which he, his spouse
and his dependent children are, jointly or severally, owners or beneficiaries;

(b) his liabilities and that of his
spouse and his dependent children.

(3) A public servant holding his office
as such, at the time of the commencement of this Act, shall furnish information
relating to such assets and liabilities, as referred to in subsection (2),
to the competent authority within thirty days of the coming into force of this
Act.

(4) Every public servant shall file
with the competent authority, on or before the 31st July of every year, an
annual return of such assets and liabilities, as referred to in sub-section (2),
as on the 31st March of that year.

(5) The information under sub-section (2)
or sub-section (3) and annual return under sub-section (4) shall
be furnished to the competent authority in such form and in such manner as may
be prescribed.

(6) The competent authority in respect
of each Ministry or Department shall ensure that all such statements are
published on the website of such Ministry or Department by 31st August of that
year.

Explanation.—For the purposes of this section, “dependent
children” means sons and daughters who have no separate means of earning
and are wholly dependent on the public servant for their livelihood.

Now, Section 44 of the Act has
been amended and substituted simply as follows:

“On and
from the date of commencement of this Act, every public servant shall make a
declaration of his assets and liabilities in such form and manner as may be
prescribed.”

Clearly
therefore the requirement to file annual return of assets and liabilities by 31st
March (for the year 2016, extended to 31st July) and the competent
authority (MHA) publishing the information on its website and other such requirements
appear to have been omitted and therefore, by inference, not applicable.

Section 59 which deals with “Powers to make Rules” too has been
amended.

Earlier, Section 59(2)(k) read: “the
form of annual return to be filed by a public servant under sub-section (5)
of section 44. In other words it referred to the annual return to “be furnished
to the competent authority in such form and in such manner as may be
prescribed”.

NOW, in section 59, in sub-section (2), for clause (k), the
following clause shall be substituted, and shall be deemed to have been substituted,
namely: — “(k) the form and manner of declaration of assets and
liabilities by public servants under section 44: Provided that the rules may be
made under this clause retrospectively from the date on which the provisions of
this Act came into force”

The Memorandum regarding
“delegated legislation in the Amendment Bill” states:

“Clause 3
of the Bill seeks to substitute clause (k) of sub-section (2) of section 59 of
the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, so as to empower
the Central Government to make rules for the purpose of prescribing the form
and manner in which declaration of assets and liabilities is to be made by
public servant under section 44. The proviso to the said clause (k)
empowers the Central Government to make rules with retrospective effect.

2. The
matters in respect of which rules may be made under the proposed amendments are
matters of procedure and administrative details and it is not practicable to
provide for them in the Bill itself. The delegation of legislative power is, therefore,
of a normal character.”

Thus, the
form and manner in which assets and liabilities require to be declared and by
whom will be reviewed and re-framed.