Maharashtra tightens norms for approval of govt officials’ foreign tours | Mumbai News
Mumbai: State govt has rolled out stringent norms for approving foreign tours of its officials. According to the latest govt resolution (GR), govt officials must submit in their application that the foreign tour will not give rise to a ‘conflict of interest’ and that this has been verified.The new norms also state that, except for study tours and training, no more than three officers should be included in any foreign tour. If more than three officers are included, there should be a written justification.The General Administration Department (GAD) stated that while reviewing the proposals for foreign tours, it was found that they are either incomplete or have errors/deficiencies. “Due to such errors, discrepancies are found in the department’s comments, checklist, and documents submitted. It becomes difficult to check such important and mandatory matters, and unnecessary time is spent on this,” the GR stated.Officials said norms and instructions regarding foreign tours were issued by GAD in 2021, and now additional instructions have been given to all administrative departments.“Since proposals for foreign visits by ministers do not fall within the purview of the committee headed by the chief secretary, they should not be referred to GAD. Proposals for foreign tours of vice chancellors of universities and chairpersons of institutions should not be submitted to this committee as they do not fall within the purview of the committee headed by the principal secretary. However, if the post of vice chancellor is held by an IAS officer, then GAD should be informed regarding the issue of a no-objection certificate for foreign tours of such an officer. It has been made mandatory to submit proposals for foreign tours through e-office and attach supporting documents,” the GR stated.“Copy of the invitation letter, address of the inviting organisation. The duration of the tour and travel time. Copy of the agreement if the tour is under a bilateral agreement / copy of the GR if the tour is under govt sponsorship. If the expenditure on the tour is to be borne by the state govt or an institution under the control of the state govt, the estimated amount of expenditure should be mentioned. If the expenses of the foreign tour will be borne by a private organisation, the type of organisation and source of income / estimated amount of expenses should be mentioned,” the GR added.
