Provision of telephone facilities and reimbursements to officers of Government of India
F.No. 24(3)/E.Coord/2018
Ministry of Finance
Department of Expenditure
New Delhi, the 26th March 2018
OFFICE MEMORANDUM
Subject :- Provision of telephone facilities and reimbursements to officers of Government of India.
The
Department of Expenditure has from time to time issued instructions on
provision of telephone facilities, monetary ceilings on reimbursement to
the officers of the Government of India. Given the increasing
dependence on telecommunication technology including mobile telephones
for carrying out official work, the existing instructions have been
comprehensively reviewed, revised and the following instructions are
hereby circulated for compliance by all Ministry/Departments, in
supersession of all earlier instructions issued by this Department on
the subject.
1. Official Telephones
1.1 All
officers of the level of Deputy Secretary equivalent and above are
entitled for office telephone with STD facility. For officers of the
level below Deputy Secretary, Ministry/Departments may decide in
consultation with the Financial Advisers on providing STD facility
depending on their functional requirements.
1.2 ISD facility is allowed on official telephones in respect of Administrative Secretaries only.
1.3
All other cases for providing ISD facility on official telephone for
officers of the level below Secretary to the Government of India may be
decided by the Administrative Secretary in consultation with the
concerned Financial Adviser.
1.4 Administrative Secretary/ Head of
Departments may in consultation with the concerned Financial Adviser
provide officers below the level of Deputy Secretary official telephones
with STD facility on functional basis. This facility should not be
given in a routine manner but extreme caution and austerity should be
exercised.
1.5 Financial Advisors shall submit a half-yearly
report to D/o Expenditure on the number of ISD facility
concurred/approved during a financial year.
2. Residential telephones
2.1.
All officers of the level of Deputy Secretary equivalent and above are
entitled for one official residential landline telephone with STD
facility.
2.2 Residential telephone can be allowed to officials
below the rank of Deputy Secretary equivalent on functional basis
subject to the condition that this facility shall be restricted to 25%
of the sanctioned strength of Group 'A' officers in a
Ministry/Department. This limit will equally apply to Attached and
Subordinate offices.
2.3 ISD facility shall not be allowed on residential telephones.
2.4
Personal staff of Ministers [Private Secretary, Additional Private
Secretary and 1st PA of Ministry] and Administrative Secretary
[Principal Staff Officer (PSO)/ Senior Principal Private Secretary/
Principal Private Secretary/Private Secretary], Section Officer
(Parliament) and Assistant Section Officer (Parliament) are entitled to
the facility of one residential landline telephone.
3. Mobile Phone Handsets
3.1
Officers of the level of Secretary and equivalent will be entitled to
reimbursement for one mobile handset costing not more than
Rs.25,000/-(Rupees Twenty Five thousand only) once during the whole
tenure. Global roaming facility shall not be allowed on the mobile
connection.
4. Reimbursement of telephone call charges
4.1
Reimbursement of telephone call charges of residential telephone/
mobile phone/broadband/mobile data/data card shall be as per entitlement
given below:
SI. No. | Level/Designation | Limit on reimbursement |
1 | Secretary to the Government of India and
equivalent level | Rs. 4200/- per month + taxes as applicable |
2 | Additional Secretary to the Government of India and equivalent level | Rs. 3000/- per month + taxes as applicable |
3 | Joint Secretary to the Government of India and equivalent level | Rs. 2700/- per month + taxes as applicable |
4 | Director/Deputy Secretary to the
Government of India and equivalent level | Rs. 2250/- per month + taxes as applicable |
5 | Below the rank of Deputy Secretary and
equivalent to the Government of India
(restricted to 50% of the sanctioned strength
of Group 'A' officers in a Ministry/
Department/Attached/Subordinate office) | Rs. 1200/- per month + taxes as applicable |
4.2 No SIM/data-card will be provided by office.
4.3
There will be no separate ceiling for the landline/
mobile/broadband/mobile data/data card. The amount reimbursable will
cover landline and / or mobile /broadband/mobile data/data card
connection and shall be limited to the ceiling prescribed or as per
actuals whichever is lower. Call charges over and above the ceiling
prescribed along with taxes thereon shall be paid by the officers
4.4
The amount shall be reimbursed on submission of bills/receipt by the
concerned officer. Officers are at liberty to choose the service
provider and the tariff package for residential landline/mobile phones.
4.5
In case where husband and wife are sharing the same residential
landline telephone and both are entitled for reimbursement, only one of
them will be allowed reimbursement against the residential landline
telephone. The claim for mobile phone charges shall be treated
separately for each of the officer subject to the entitled ceiling.
4.6 Reimbursement for mobile will be restricted to the officer in whose name the mobile connection is registered.
4.7
The entitlement of an officer drawing pay in a scale intervening
between that of Director and Joint Secretary would be at par with that
of Deputy Secretary/Director.
4.8 Excess expenditure upto 30% of
the ceiling amount (applicable to the officer) can be reimbursed to
officers of Joint Secretary equivalent and above and also to Private
Secretary/ Officers on Special Duty to the Ministers subject to their
submitting a certificate, duly justifying that excess expenditure
incurred was for official purpose and unavoidable. This reimbursement
would require the concurrence of the Financial Adviser concerned and
sanction of the Administrative Secretary/ Secretary Equivalent of the
Department/ Organization. In so far as Secretary/ Secretary equivalent
officer are concerned, they shall be competent to exercise the aforesaid
powers in their own cases. The power to sanction this expenditure shall
not be delegated.
4.9 Telephone reimbursement will not be
admissible in cases of Leave (of any nature) and trainings which are for
more than one calendar month (s).
5. Mobile Facility during official visits abroad
5.1
Officials and delegations visiting abroad for the purpose of short
official visits/meeting/conferences/workshops may be provided SIM card
by our Mission / Embassy. In case SIM card is not provided by our
Mission / Embassy, there will be a monetary ceiling of Rs.2000/- per day
for officer above the level of Additional Secretary and equivalent and
Rs.1000/- per day for other officers towards reimbursement of call
charges.
5.2 No mobile phone facility shall be provided during training period whatsoever including training abroad.
6. These orders shall be effective from the date of issue of this Office Memorandum.
S/d,
(H.Atheli)
Director