Change of Hometown Address

Change of Hometown Address

“Hometown” means the town, village or any other place declared as such by the Government servant and accepted by the controlling officer. The hometown once declared and accepted by the controlling officer shall be treated as final. Though, there is a chance in a lifetime to change the Hometown address in service records with submitting the appropriate documents. Generally, once declared his hometown address by an employee, it is initially may be accepted. But, a detailed check may be applied only when he seeks a change. Rules says some criteria to determine whether his declaration may be accepted.

Change of Hometown.- The hometown once declared and accepted by the controlling officer shall be treated as final. In exceptional circumstances, the Head of the Department or if the Government servant himself is the Head of the Department, the Administrative Ministry, may authorise a change in such declaration provided that such a change shall not be made more than once during the service of a Government servant.

Govt. of India Decisions:
(1) From time to time enquiries have been received as to how exactly the “home town” should be determined. The conditions of ownership of property and permanent residence of relatives laid down in para 1 (4) of this Ministry’s Office Memorandum of 11th October, 1956 are only illustrative and not exhaustive for determining one’s home town. The correct test to determine whether a place declared by a Government servant may be accepted as his hometown or not is to check whether it is the place where the Govt. servant would normally reside but for his absence from such a station for service under Government. The criteria mentioned below may, therefore, be applied to determine whether the Govt. servant’s declaration may be accepted-

(i) Whether the place declared by Government servant is the one which requires his physical presence at intervals for discharging various domestic and social obligations, and if so, whether after his entry into service, the Government servant had been visiting that place frequently.

(ii) Whether the Government servant owns residential property in that place or whether he is a member of a joint family having such property there.

(iii) Whether his near relations are resident in that place.

(iv) Whether, prior to his entry into Government service, the Government servant had been living there for some years.

NOTE.- The criteria, one after the other, need be applied only in cases where the immediately preceding criterion is not satisfied.

Where the Government servant or the family of which he is a member owns a residential or landed property in more than one place, it is left to the Government servant to make a choice giving reasons for the same, provided that the decision of the Controlling Officer whether or not to accept such place as the hometown of the
Government servant shall be final.

Where the presence of near relations at a particular place is to be the determining criterion for the acceptance of declaration of ‘hometown’ the presence of near relations should be a more or less permanent nature.

2. It has been decided, in view of the comprehensive revised definition of “home town”, to give further opportunity to declare the home towns afresh within a time limit (i.e. by the 31st October, 1958) to all those who might be affected by the revised definition (e.g. whose earlier declarations were rejected but who would now become eligible to declare particular places as their hometowns, or who might like to have a change affected in the light of the revised criteria). Such fresh declaration after approval by the Controlling Officer will be treated as the “first declaration” and not as a change of declaration in terms of para 1 (4) of this Ministry’s Office Memorandum No.43/1/56-Estt. Part II, dated the 11th October, 1956.

3. Those Government servants who because of the revised definition now become eligible for the leave travel concession would, however, be eligible only for the concessions commencing from the one relating to the 1958-59 block.

(MHA OM No. 43/15/57-Ests. (A) dated 24.6.1958)