Ranchi, April 23: Ministers in Jharkhand are much like corporate honchos: more often than not, they are touring. Better still, they need not take permission from anyone before undertaking a tour within the state or country.

Not surprisingly, with the rules of executive business being silent on the tours within the country, most ministers often take advantage of it and keep the government in the dark about their jaunts, complained bureaucrats peeved with their missing bosses.

What?s more, with no system of attendance for the ministers, they can be considered ?on duty or at rest 24 hours a day?.

Sources said most ministers stay out of Ranchi for close to three weeks every month. ?Can you imagine the cost they incur on tours? They fly when going out of the state, else they drive with a huge entourage when they are travelling within the state. There?s no accountability,? said a disgusted official who did not wish to be named.

Cabinet secretary Aditya Swarup said ministers chalk out their tour programmes and send copies to the authorities concerned for approval. ?But there is no rule as such to govern ministers? tour programmes,? he said.

Swarup, however, was quick to add that the ministers discharge their duties well. Normally, ministers do not take any advance and get their tour expenses reimbursed after they return, he said.

Swarup said: ?People?s representatives like common citizens, however, need to have the due permission from the PMO and the external affairs ministry prior to undertaking any foreign tour.?

Drinking water and sanitation minister Jaleshwar Mahto, who incidentally was in the city, claimed that he stays in the capital for at least 16-18 days a month.

?Whenever I have to go out of the capital, I inform the chief minister and the Cabinet co-ordination department beforehand. And usually, I do not leave Ranchi for more than 3-4 days at a stretch. When I move out of the state my tour does not exceed three to four days,? Mahto said.

The minister does not remember any occasion when the chief minister prevented him from leaving the city.

Another minister said let alone the chief minister, he also apprises Raj Bhavan of his tours. ?Usually, the tour programmes are prepared in advance. But at times, they are chalked out at the eleventh hour, so Raj Bhavan is communicated over phone,? he said.

The chief minister has the liberty to assign the responsibility of a minister on tour to another cabinet member or he can take it over himself.

?The chief minister had himself started disposing files of the finance department when then minister, the late Mrigendra Pratap Singh, met with an accident and fractured his leg. But usually the ministers are away for a short duration,? a minister said.

Jharkhand has not yet framed its rules of executive business and is still following the rules of Bihar.