According to an official order, the Center has amended a 50-year-old rule to permit IAS, IPS and IFoS officers to retain items acquired from overseas dignitaries whereas being members of the Indian delegation.
Existing guidelines allowed these officers to just accept items from their shut family members or private buddies on events corresponding to weddings, anniversaries, funerals and non secular ceremonies when the gift-giving was in step with the prevailing non secular and social observe. .
But if the worth of such present exceeds Rs 25,000, they are going to report back to the federal government, the foundations say.
Gift contains free transportation, free boarding, free lodging or some other service or pecuniary profit when supplied by an individual who has no official dealings with the officer aside from a detailed relative or private good friend, however contains Does not embody informal eating, informal carry or different socials. hospitality.
According to the All India Services (Conduct) Rules, 1968 relevant to officers of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), “No member of the Service shall accept any gift without the sanction of the Government, if the value of the gift exceeds Rs.5,000.” , Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Forest Service (IFoS).
These guidelines state {that a} service member ought to chorus from accepting lavish hospitality or repeated hospitality from industrial or business companies or different organizations having official dealings with them.
The Ministry of Personnel has now amended these guidelines and inserted a brand new sub-rule below part 11 of the All India Services (Conduct) Rules, 1968.
“… a member of the Service, being a member of the Indian delegation or otherwise, may receive and keep gifts from foreign dignitaries in accordance with the provisions of the Foreign Contribution (Acceptance or Retention of Gifts or Presentations) Rules, 2012 , as amended. From time to time, read the “Recently Revised Rules”.
The Personnel Ministry had in March final yr sought feedback of state governments on the proposed guidelines.
“… at current there are not any provisions below the AIS (Conduct) Rules, 1968 with respect to the receipt/retention of items from overseas dignitaries by the members of AIS being members of the Indian delegation or in any other case. Therefore, a brand new sub-rule It has been determined with the approval of a reliable authority to include the…,” it mentioned in a launch on March 3 final yr.
They have been requested to ship a reply by March 31, 2020, failing which “it will be deemed that the State Government has no objection to the proposed amendments”.
Gifts acquired from overseas dignitaries, from recognized or unknown sources, are often deposited within the Ministry of External Affairs within the ‘Toshakhana’ – the repository of such articles.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
