In a significant administrative reform aimed at removing long-standing ambiguities in service matters, the Haryana Government has issued detailed guidelines to clearly distinguish between a government employee’s ‘hometown’ and ‘permanent address’. The move is expected to bring greater transparency and consistency in transfers, postings, and personnel management across all government departments and institutions.
Chief Secretary Anurag Rastogi has clarified that the terms ‘hometown’ and ‘permanent address’ are distinct and should not be used interchangeably while implementing conduct rules and transfer/posting policies.
According to the guidelines, an employee’s hometown will ordinarily be the village or city where they resided before joining government service. It can also be the place where their family currently resides, where they frequently visit for domestic and social obligations, where they or their family own residential property, or where their close relatives live.
The instructions also provide greater flexibility by allowing employees to choose a new permanent residence after joining government service.
If an employee settles at a new station after marriage, family relocation, or the purchase of residential property, that place can be declared as their permanent address with the approval of the competent authority.
However, the government has made it clear that such a change will not alter the employee’s officially recorded hometown.
The clarification reiterates the rationale behind the existing policy that gazetted officers cannot ordinarily be posted in their home districts. The government has observed that posting officers away from their hometown helps prevent bias, conflicts of interest, and undue influence arising from proximity to relatives, friends, or local interests. It also promotes impartiality, professional integrity, objectivity, and public confidence, particularly in departments dealing with sensitive matters such as land administration, taxation, law and order, development projects, and public funds.
Rastogi further clarified that while a government employee may change their permanent address during service or even after retirement, the home district associated with their hometown will remain unchanged. Cases in which changes to the hometown or permanent address have already been approved by the competent authority will not be reopened.
The government has directed all departments to treat these instructions as an amendment to earlier guidelines, wherever required, and ensure their implementation in both letter and spirit.