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 applic |
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
