Instructions in regard to the term of Occupation of Government Residences

291-B. (1) It is the duty of the officer in-charge to endeayour to get tenants for Government residences not immediately required for Government use. Such tenants need not necessarily be officers of the particular department to which the building is assigned : they may be officers of other departments or private persons. When residences are let to Government servants Fundamental Rule 45-A and the subsidiary rules made under it will apply; when they are let to private persons the lease should generally be from month to month but a longer lease may be given with the sanction of the Head of the Department. A clause in the agreement should be added, when necessary, to enable the officer-in-charge to terminate the lease at short notice in case the building is required by Government. Residences let to private persons should not be altered or enlarged at Government expense to suit the tenant and persons occupying such residences on rent who should be prohibited from making any alterations even at their own expense, except with the express concurrence of the Head of the Department.

(2) When a building is utilized party as a residence and partly as an office, the capital cost of the portion occupied, as a residence should be separately assessed for the purpose of the calculation of standard rent, which should be based upon such capital cost and upon the cost of maintenance of the residential portion. This instruction does not apply in cases where separate office accommodation is provided for the occupant or where the use of part of his residence for office purposes is optional. The capital cost of the portion of the residence used as an office will be calculated in accordance with the orders of the Government under Fundamental Rule 45-A-H, proviso (v) (1) in Volume II of the Financial Handbook.

(3) (Deleted).

(4) It is not permissible to allow Government servants or others to occupy Government building rent-free or at a reduced rent on conditions that they keep them in repair. This instruction is not, however, intended to prevent the Government from exercising their discretion in regard to the transfer of Government buildings, not immediately requireds for Government purposes, to local bodies on terms which will ensure the buildings being kept in proper repair and secure the right of re-entry after reasonable notice.

(5) Cases in which rent-free quarters or reduced rents have been sanctioned should be periodically reviewed by Heads of Departments and, if the concession granted appears for any reason to be no longer necessary, it should be withdrawn, the sanction of the Government to the withdrawal being applied for.

(6) In all cases in which rent-free accommodation is provided or in which rent is waived or reduced a copy of the order should be communicated to the Accountant General.

291-C. Rents of residential quarters calculated at monthly rates should be calculated to the nearest fifty paise, amounts of less than twenty five paise should be ignored, amounts from twenty-five paise to seventy four paise should be reckoned as fifty paise and amounts of seventy-five paise and over as one rupee.