20-A

20-A. (1) Persons who, not being servants of the Government are called as witnesses in a departmental inquiry either by the authority conducting the inquiry or on behalf of the government servant whose conduct is under inquiry, shall receive the same travelling allowance and diet money as are admissible to non-official witnesses summoned in criminal cases, provided that in the case of such persons who are called on behalf of the government servant whose conduct is under inquiry, the payment of travelling allowance and diet money shall be subject to the following principles:

(a) travelling allowance may be paid to witnesses summoned in the event of the government servant concerned clearing himself ;

(b) such allowances will be paid only in respect of witnesses whose evidence is considered of material value by the authority conducting the inquiry ; and

(c) in exceptional cases the authority conducting the inquiry may, on grounds to be recorded, recommend to the Government that the principles laid down above be departed from owing to special reasons. In such cases it will be for the Government to decide, after taking into consideration all the circumstances of the case, whether the recommendation should be accepted or not.

The authority conducting the inquiry shall determine the category of each witness for the purpose of calculating travelling allowance and diet money under the scale prescribed for witnesses in criminal cases.

(2) The scale prescribed for witnesses in criminal cases is as follows:

Class of witness	Mileage allowance by rail	Mileage allowance by road	Dist money per diem
I	One first class fare each way	Beyond diet money, no travelling allowance is ordinarily admissible for journeys by road, but in special circumstances, the actual expenses incurred up to a maximum limit of Re. 0.50 a kilometre in the case of first class witnesses and Re. 0.37 kilometre in other cases, may be allowed by the court.	Rs. 8
II	One second class fare each way.		Rs. 5

(The above rates have come into force with effect from April 1, 1983. vide Home (Police) Anubhag-9, Notification no. 1158/VIII-9-(5)/77, dated November 8, 1983).