(2) The following classes of officers are authorised to travel by air while on tour:

(i) All Secretaries and Special Secretaries to Government.

(ii) Joint/Deputy Secretaries attached to Mukhya Mantri.

(iii) Aides-de-Camp and the Medical Officer of the Governor accompanying the Governor while on tour.

(iv) All other government servants in receipt of pay of Rs. 2,400 per mensem or above and all such government servants (including officers of All India Services) whose scales of pay have not been revised or, if revised, they have opted to retain their old scales of pay and are in receipt of pay of Rs. 2,000 per mensem or more.

Provided that the officers mentioned at (ii) above will perform air journey only in the following circumstances—

(a) when they have to accompany Mukhya Mantri in air journey under his orders ; or

(b) when they are called by Mukhya Mantri at short notice and it is not possible to reach the destination in time by train ; or

(c) when they are deputed by Mukhya Mantri to any place for official work at short notice and it is not possible to perform the work in time if the journey is performed by train.

In the order sanctioning air journey the Secretary to Mukhya Mantri shall certify that the above circumstances existed:

Provided also that Government may authorise any other government servant, or class of government servants, to perform any specified journey or journeys by air.

NOTE—1 For admissibility of revised rates of travelling allowance to such government servants whose scales of pay have not been revised or who opt to retain their old scales of pay, the dearness allowance/additional dearness allowance as admissible on July 1, 1979 will be added to their pay.

NOTE—2 Journeys by air should not be undertaken for any purpose other than tour, e.g. for training, etc. In exceptional cases, however, the following procedure must always be followed.

(i) Finance Department’s prior approval must be obtained if, in any special case, exceptional circumstances exist in which journey by air by a government servant for a purpose other than tour is considered unavoidable.

(ii) Prior approval of the Finance Department must be obtained in such cases also where, in special and exceptional unavoidable circumstances, a government servant, normally not entitled to travel by air, may, in public interest, be required to proceed on tour by air, e.g., where on short notice a government servant is required to reach the destination and it may not be possible to undertake such a journey by railway train.

(iii) If a journey by air, in the public interest, is permitted in special circumstances, the return journey should be undertaken by rail/road, as the case may be, in accordance with the rules.

(iv) Journey by air should not be made on routes on which fast and convenient railway trains are available.

(3) A government servant authorised to travel by air in pursuance of the provisions of sub-rule (2) of this rule may draw as mileage allowance, the fare paid for the journey by air together with an allowance equal to one-fifth of the standard air fare limited to a maximum of Rs. 20 for each journey.

A government servant authorised to travel by air on tour under the second proviso to sub-rule (2) is entitled to one standard air fare for the journey, plus the allowance for incidental expenses in respect of journey by rail or road in the case of a journey between stations connected by rail or road, as the case may be, to which he would have been entitled had he travelled by the surface route, or one-fifth of the standard air fare limited to a maximum of Rs. 20 for each journey, whichever is less:

Provided that, if at the end of the journey by air, a government servant has to perform a connected journey, by rail or road, he may draw the mileage allowance admissible for such journeys under rule 27. No allowance, however, shall be admissible in respect of the surface transport which forms part of the air journey and is included in the fare paid for the same.

NOTE—"Standard air fare" means the actual single journey air fare payable for the service by which the journey is performed.

(4) A government servant who is not authorised to travel by air but who performs a journey by air can draw only the travelling allowance to which he would have been entitled under rule 14-A if he had travelled by rail or road, as the case may be, instead of by air.

(5) If available, return tickets at reduced rates should always be purchased when a government servant expects to perform the return journey by air within the period during which a return ticket is available. The mileage allowance for the forward and the return journeys when such return tickets are available will be the actual cost of the return ticket together with an allowance equal to one-fifth of the standard air fare limited to a maximum of Rs. 20 for each journey.

(6) All claims for full mileage allowance for travel by air must be supported by a certificate in the following form: