Fin Ministry advisory: Officers can't use state emblem on vehicles

Even as the controversy over the incorrect usage of red beacons brews, the Finance Ministry cracked its whip on instances of Income Tax department officers unauthorised flashing the national emblem on their vehicles. [caption id=“attachment_1409559” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational Image: Reuters.[/caption] The incident came to light after the issue was flagged to Finance Minister P Chidambaram sometime back after which he issued orders to check the extent of the practice in the department. The Finance Ministry, on 25 February, issued an advisory to all the cadre controlling chief commissioners of I-T in the country, asking them to ensure that the “provisions of the State Emblem of India (Prohibition of Improper Use) Act, 2005” are not violated by the department officials.  The ministry issued the advisory because government vehicles provided to its officers are not permitted usage of the emblem. The said Act, which regulates the usage of the state emblem, has a defined list of high-offices and dignitaries who are allowed to use the insignia on their vehicles. The use of the emblem on vehicles is restricted to authorities like President, Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India and others who are specified by their designations in the Schedule-II of the Act. The official directive states that the usage of the state emblem of ‘Lion Capital of Ashoka at Sarnath’ with ‘Satyameva Jayate’ written below it is not authorised for the usage on the official cars of the I-T department used for travel by officers. Officers of the ranks Commissioners, Chief Commissioners and Directors General of I-T are issued vehicles from the government garage. “Some violations with regard to usage of state emblem were found in the department and they are now been rectified,” a senior official privy to the development told PTI. The Supreme Court has been very critical of the indiscriminate use of beacons atop vehicles during a number of hearings on the subject in the recent past. PTI