HO quota is available for any one who can prove the urgency of the travel. But a fixed protocol is followed. The protocol starts from the President of India and down to Last Grade Government Servant and also includes other VIPs such as doctors, etc including common citizen. Since availability is limited, the allotment is based on first cum first served and the protocol ranking. The discretion of the Chief Reservation Supervisor and the staff in charge of chart finalisation plays an important role. One has to apply for release of HO quota and submit the application to the CRS on the morning of the date of journey. For the trains for which charts are prepared, the application has to be given on the previous day itself. All such applications would be grouped together and sorted on the priorities mentioned above and informed to the Divisional office concerned. One can also...
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send their application to the Divisional office also direct either in person or through fax. If one has some good contacts within the railway division, his chances of getting included in the priority list is more.
I have been successful in getting the HO quota release a couple of times for my journeys from cbe to mas and once from mas to ndls because of my official position in state government.
We are generally always successful in getting the HO released for the travel of IAS officers. It seems that a few seats in the trains connecting the district HQ with the state HQ are allotted to the district administration concerned - DC/DM office, which we could be released for senior Government officials.