Hyderabad: Some officers from the state are not following guidelines for official visits abroad, putting the government in an embarrassing position.
In a recent case, the external affairs ministry did not clear the visit of an official.
Taking serious note of this, TS Chief Secretary S.P. Singh has issued a circular to all departments to follow the guidelines when an officer applies to go abroad official duty.
Mr Singh said the proposals for foreign visits must be recommended by the special chief secretary, principal secretary and secretary of the department concerned.
Following this, the clearance of the finance department has to be obtained, followed by political clearance in respect of IAS officers from the ministry of external affairs.
Mr Singh said that despite this procedure, proposals were being received from certain departments for officials to travel abroad, without obtaining political clearance from the MEA.
He said in certain cases, proposals were being placed before the screening committee on foreign visits and orders were being issued, subject to receipt of political clearance from the Centre.
Citing a case of an official being refused permission to travel abroad, Mr Singh said, “This fact came to notice only indirectly and not from the department concerned leading to a situation of avoidable confusion and even embarrassment to the officer concerned.”
