Should any officer responsible or accountable for public property, after receiving instructions to transfer the same as aforesaid, fail to make proper transfer as directed within 30 days or any authorized extension of that period, the heads of the respective staff departments exercising supervision over or control of said property shall report the facts to the Adjutant General for the action of the Commanding General of the militia. Upon receiving such a report the Commanding General may in his discretion direct that a surveying officer be appointed, and it shall be the duty of such surveying officer to ascertain and verify all public property which the delinquent officer had on hand and certify the same to the officer designated to receive it, who will immediately take up all property so certified and receipt for the same to the head of the proper staff department. The surveying officer will then proceed to determine and fix the responsibility for the loss or destruction of any of the foregoing property which is not found or transferred as directed.
D.C. Code § 49-207