TEMPORARY HEADQUARTERS

Conveyance hire

S.R. 89. A Competent Authority may, by general or special order, permit any Government servant or class of Government servants to draw the actual cost of hiring a conveyance on a journey for which no traveling allowance is admissible under these rules.

Note 1 – Reimbursement to Government servants of the cost of hiring conveyance on journeys within a radius of 8 kilometres, for which no traveling allowance is admissible under these rules, is regulated under the provisions of Delegation of Financial Powers Rules, 1978.

Note 2 – Heads of Departments who have been declared as such with reference to Rule 2 (10) of Supplementary Rules and Heads of Offices under them to whom the Delegation of Financial Powers Rules, 1978, do not apply will also exercise in this regard the same powers as in item No. 3 of the Annexure to Schedule V of the Delegation of Financial Powers Rules, as amended from time to time.

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA’S ORDERS

(1) Regulation of conveyance hire – conveyance hire under rule shall be regulated as follows:-

(A) For Gazetted Officers

The conveyance hire charges actually paid may be reimbursed to a Gazetted Government servant, who performs a journey in the public interest, within the municipal limits of the city in which his headquarter is situated, in a conveyance when a staff car is not available;

Provided that where traveling allowance is also admissible for such a journey, it will be open to the officer either to claim reimbursement of the conveyance hire under these rules or traveling allowance under the Traveling Allowance Rules;

Provided further that the reimbursement of the conveyance hire shall be subject to the following conditions, namely:-

(i) If more than one officers are required to proceed to a particular place on official duty, they shall share the conveyance as for as possible.

(ii) The controlling officer shall certify that the staff car could not be made available for the journey performed by the Gazetted Government servant concerned.

Note – Heads of Departments may sanction to themselves the reimbursement of conveyance hire charges subject to the conditions mentioned above.

The conveyance hire charges may be reimbursed to a non-gazetted Government servant who –

(i) Is dispatched on duty to a place at some distance from his office within the municipal limits of the city in which his office situated or

(ii) Is summoned to office outside the ordinary hours of duty by special order of a gazetted Officer.

Provided that where traveling allowance is admissible for such a journey, it will be open to the Government Servant concerned either to claim reimbursement of the conveyance hire under these rules, or traveling allowance under the Traveling Allowance Rules.

General Notes [Common to (A) and (B)]

(i) The total amount of conveyance hire reimbursed to a Government servant, whether Gazetted or non-Gazetted, on the basis mentioned in Paragraph 1 above in any one month shall not exceed Rs. 150.

(ii) The conveyance hire should not be reimbursed in respect of a journey, if the non- Gazetted Government servant concerned is granted any compensatory leave or is otherwise entitled to receive any special remuneration for the purpose of the duty which necessitated the journey. However, where such a Government servant has been recalled from his residence to perform overtime work, the Competent Authority may allow conveyance charges to him in addition to the overtime allowance admissible to him.

(iii) The reimbursement of conveyance hire should be made in all cases specified above in accordance with the scheduled scale of charges for the conveyance used.

(iv) The power to sanction reimbursement of conveyance charges to a Gazetted Government servant shall vest in the Ministries/Departments of the Government of India, Heads of Department and Heads of Offices.

(v) The conveyance hire reimbursable shall be the fare by bus, tram, local train or a combination of them, if the places to be visited are connected by any of these public conveyances or a combination of them, as the case may be. If, on such routes, any other conveyance is hired, the hiring charges may be reimbursed on the certificate of the Head of a Department in the case of Gazetted Officer to the effect that in the interests of public service or due to the urgency of the work, if was necessary for the officer to hire such a conveyance. Such reimbursement may be made in respect of a non-Gazetted Government servant by a Head of Office or by any authority authorized to do so by a Department of the Central Government.

(vi) Deleted.

(vii) (a) Officers of Groups ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘D’ service may be allowed reimbursement of scooter or bus fare, as the case may be.

(viii) Officers using their own conveyance for journeys in public interest within the municipal limits of the city in which their headquarter is situated, may claim reimbursement

at the rates notified, by the concerned Director of Transport, for taxi or, as the case may be, autorickshaw plying in that city.

[Extract of Item 3 of the Annexure to Schedule V of the Delegation of Financial Powers Rules, 1978, as amended by G.I., M.F., Notification No. F. 1 (7) –E. II (A)/81, dated the 30th November, 1982; F. 1 (11)-E. II (A)/85, dated the 12th December, 1985; F. 1 (13)-E II (A)/86, dated the 7th October, 1986; F. 1 (51)-E II (A)/87, dated the 3rd November, 1988 and F. 1 (7)-E. II (A)/98, dated the 5th August, 1998.]

Adherence to rules on reimbursement of conveyance hire for local journeys – Attention of all the concerned authorities is invited to the General Note (v) against Item 3 of Annexure to Schedule V of the Delegation of Financial Powers Rules, 1978, which provides that in respect of local official journeys, the conveyance hire charges reimbursable shall be the fare by bus, tram, local trains or a combination of them, if the places to be visited are connected by any of these public conveyances or a combination of them, as the case may be. Reimbursement of charges for hiring other conveyance can be made only after a certificate of the controlling authority is furnished to the effect that in the interest of public service or due to urgency of work, it was necessary to hire such other conveyance. Accordingly, in the normal circumstances, the reimbursement should not generally exceed the fare of public conveyances, if available on the route of the journey.

2. Despite the above provisions, instances have come to the notice where conveyance hire has been reimbursed equal to the charges of the autorickshaw/taxi, even when ordinary means of conveyance was available and no urgency was involved. At places, where free transport has been provided for official journeys at some local routes like shuttle mini bus service covering various central government Offices in New Delhi, fraudulent claims are being preferred and passed by the Competent Authorities in respect of journeys shown for routes other than those covered by free transport facility. In some cases, conveyance hire is being reimbursed for the journeys which were never undertaken. All such types of cases are against the spirit of the provisions contained in Item 3 of Annexure to Schedule V of the Delegation of Financial Powers Rules, 1978 and the principles of financial property enumerated in Government of India’s Decision below Rule 6 of the General Financial Rules, 1963. The authorities competent to pass the claims will have to exercise strict control to curb such malpractices.

3. All the Ministries/Departments are, therefore, requested to ensure that the relevant provisions of the Delegation of Financial Powers Rules, 1978, regarding the reimbursement of conveyance hire are strictly adhered to by the controlling/competent Authorities and only genuine claims in this regard are recommended/ sanctioned.

[G.I., M.F., O.M. No. F. 1 (16)-E II (A)/90, dated the 27th July, 1990.]

DG, P & T’S ORDERS

The question of reimbursement of actual expenses under SR 89 to Government servants for hiring of conveyances within a radius of 8 kilometres of their headquarters has been under consideration and it has been decided that the Competent Authorities should invariably keep in view the following principles:-

(i) The eligibility of an officer to get reimbursement of the actual expenditure must depend upon whether or not an officer claiming such reimbursement is entitled to a fixed conveyance allowance.

(ii) No conveyance hire or actual expenses are allowed in cases where the traveling allowance drawn for journeys outside the 8 kilometres limit is an amount large enough which in the probability compensates for journeys for which traveling/daily allowance is not otherwise admissible.

[D.G., P. & T.’s No. TE. 28-53-52, dated the 31st December, 1953.] Ferry charges, tolls and railway fare

S.R. 90. A Government servant traveling on duty within eight kilometers of his headquarters is entitled to recover the actual amounts which he may spend in payment of ferry and other tolls and fares for journeys by railway or other public conveyance. Actual expenses of maintaining camp equipage during a halt at headquarters

S.R. 91. On the following conditions and any other conditions which it may think fit to impose, a competent authority may, by general or special order, permit any Government servant or class of Government servants to recover the actual cost of maintaining camp equipage during a halt at headquarters or within eight kilometers of headquarters or during the interval between the Government servant’s departure from or arrival at headquarters and that of his camp equipage.

(a) The amount drawn, together with any amounts recovered under Rule 90, should not exceed the daily allowance of his grade.

(b) The period of the halt or interval for which it is granted should not exceed ten days. An absence on duty from the halting place for less than three nights should not be treated as interrupting the halt or interval.

(c) The Government servant must certify that he has maintained the whole or part of his camp equipage during the halt or interval and that the expense of maintenance has not been less that the amount drawn. In the case of a non- Gazetted or Class IV servant, the Head of Office must certify that such maintenance was necessary.

SUB-DIVISION (IV) – SPECIAL RULES