Govt limits foreign travel by bureaucrats to 4 per year

New Delhi: Bureaucrats can go on a maximum four overseas trips in a year, according to a Finance Ministry guideline which says that Secretaries should undertake foreign travels only when no one else can be deputed.

Secretaries to Government departments have also been barred from travelling abroad during Parliament session unless absolutely unavoidable. Also, Secretary and the Minister of a department cannot be abroad at the same time.

Prime Minister's approval would be needed for any Secretary requiring travel beyond the mandated four trips in a year, according to the revised comprehensive guidelines on foreign visit by officers of Government of India issued by the Finance Ministry.

It said that the existing set of guidelines have been reviewed in order to "regulate foreign visits of Government of Indian officers and delegations and to make these visits more effective".

The foreign travels of bureaucrats will be authorised by Screening Committee of Secretaries (SCoS). The visits of officials of PSUs and autonomous bodies have, however, been kept out of the purview of the SCoS. Foreign visits, the new rules said, should not exceed five working days.

"There shall be no objection in accepting international air travel costs and hospitality from an international body of which India is a member or the visit abroad is covered under bilateral/multilateral agreement or under a regular exchange programme," the new rules said.

The new foreign travel rules said bureaucrats should use modern technology of tele or video conferencing to keep the size of a delegation at bare minimum.

"Participation of officials in international fairs/ exhibitions/workshops and conferences shall be discouraged. If considered essential, only the officer directly dealing with the subject shall be deputed," it said.

It added that in such international events, a coordinated projection of 'Brand India' should be attempted instead of individual Ministries setting up individual stalls.

"In an outgoing Indian delegation, there need not be any Ministry of External Affairs' official from India. Instead services of Indian Mission situation in the destination country could be utilised," the rules said. It said proposals seeking approval of SCoS shall be submitted to Department of Expenditure 15 days prior to departure date of the delegation.

The rules said the Ministries shall upload data related to foreign visits on the online Foreign Visit management System (FVMS) on the Department of Expenditure website.

To optimise the outcome from foreign tours of officers, each Ministry shall prepare a Quarterly Rolling Plan (QRP) of proposed visits for the next three months.

The QRPs would have to be uploaded on the FVMS and will be reviewed every month. "Only the essential foreign visits which cannot be avoided may be included," the rules said.