Government relaxes gift policy for employees | Fusion - WeRIndia

The central government yesterday increased the monetary limit for accepting gifts for all its employees.

The ceiling has been relaxed by more than three-fold as per the officials.

The limit to accepting gifts without the approval of the government for officials under Group A and B categories was ₹1,500 earlier which increased to ₹5,000 as per the amended rules.

The employees under Group C will now be able to accept gifts up to ₹2,000 which was ₹500 earlier.

Group A employees are senior officers and all gazetted or non-gazetted officials fall under Group B.

The clerical jobs and multi-tasking staff come under Group C.

The gifts include free lodging, boarding, transport and any other monetary advantage provided by any other person except a close relative or friend to the government employee. These persons should have no official dealings with the employee.

However, a casual meal or other social hospitality is not considered a gift as per the present rules.

But, the employee should avoid lavish or frequent hospitality from any individual or firms that have official dealings with him.

The ceiling limits have been revised to make them on par with the three Indian services – Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service and Indian Forest Service.

Earlier there was a limit of ₹1,000 to receive and retain gifts from foreign dignitaries for government employees. Now, the government has removed this limit as well.

Gifts received from either known or unknown sources of foreign dignitaries are generally deposited with the ‘toshakhana’.

As per the present rules, a Government servant should not accept any gifts from foreign firms which have contracts with the government or are likely to have official dealings with him.

The employee should also report to the government about the gifts he receives from their close relatives and friends on the occasions of weddings, anniversaries etc. if the gift value exceeds the suggested threshold limits.

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