Leave Travel Concession for Central Government Employees – Rules and Procedures
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1.1 Introduction:
The Government of India has introduced the facility of leave travel concessions in 1956 which was regulated by the orders issued from time to time. In 1988, all these orders are brought out in the form of Central Civil Services (Leave Travel Concession) Rules, 1988.
1.2 Applicability:
1.2.1 These rules shall apply to all persons –
(i) who are appointed to civil services and posts including civilian Government servants in the Defence Services in connection with the affairs of the Union;
(ii) who are employed under a State Government and who are on deputation with the Central Government;
(iii) who are appointed on contract basis; and
(iv) who are re-employed after their retirement.
1.2.2 These rules shall not apply to –
(a) Government servants not in whole-time employment;
(b) persons in casual and daily-rated employment;
(c) persons paid from contingencies;
(d) Railway servants;
(e) members of the Armed Forces;
(f) local recruits in Indian Missions abroad; and
(g) persons eligible to any other form of travel concession available during leave or otherwise.
1.3 Admissibility:
(1) Any employee with one year of continuous service on the date of journey performed by him/his family is eligible for leave travel concession.
Note: Period of unauthorized absence, declared under FR-17 A, will be treated as break in service for calculating the continuous period of service unless the same is condoned by the competent authority.
(2) In the case of persons belonging to categories mentioned in Causes (ii), (iii) and (iv) of (1.2.1), the leave travel concession shall be admissible on completion of one year’s continuous service under the Central Government and provided that it is certified by the appropriate administrative authority that the employee concerned is likely to continue to serve under the Central Government for a period of at least two years in the case of leave travel concession to hometown and at least four years in the case of leave travel concession to any place in India to be reckoned from the date of his joining the post under the Central Government.
(3) In the case of officers appointed on contract basis, where the initial contract is for one year but is later extended, the total duration of the contract will be taken into account for the purpose of leave travel concession.
(4) In the case of persons re-employed, immediately after retirement without any break, the period of re-employed service will be treated as continuous with the previous service for the purpose of leave travel concession and the concession allowed for the re-employed period, provided that the leave travel concession would have been admissible to the re-employed officer had he not retired but had continued as serving officer.
Illustration: If an officer has availed of the concession to visit any place in India in respect of a block of four years before his retirement and he is re-employed without any break, he cannot avail this concession till the expire of the particular block of four years.
1.4 Scope:
The leave travel concession will cover the Government servant himself and his family.
Family means:
i) the Government servant’s wife or husband, as the case may be, and two surviving unmarried children or stepchildren wholly dependent on the Government servant, irrespective of whether they are residing with the Government servant or not;
ii) married daughters who have been divorced, abandoned or separated from their husbands and widowed daughters and are residing with the Government servant and are wholly dependent on the Government servant;
iii) parents and/ or stepmother and stepfather wholly dependent on the Government servant irrespective of whether they are residing with Government Servant or not;
iv) unmarried minor brothers as well as unmarried, divorced, abandoned, separated from their husbands or widowed sisters residing with and wholly dependent on the Government servant, provided their parents are either not alive or are themselves wholly dependent on the Government servant.
Explanations:
1. The restriction of the concession to only two surviving children or stepchildren shall not be applicable in respect of (i) those employees w/10 already have more than two children prior to the earning into force of this restriction, i.e., 20.10.1997; (ii) children born within one year of the corning into farce of this restrict; (iii) where the number of children exceeds two as a result of second child birth resulting in multiple births.
2. Not more than one wife is included in the term “Family” for the purpose of these Rules.
However, if a Government servant has two legally wedded wives and the second marriage is with the specific permission of the Government, the second wife shall also be included in the definition of “Family”.
3. Though it is not necessary for the spouse and children to reside with the Government servant so as to be eligible for the Leave Travel Concession, the concession in their cases shall, however, be restricted to the actual distance travelled or the distance between the headquarters/ place of posting of the Government servant and the hometown/ place of visit, whichever is less.
4. Children of divorced, abandoned, separated from their husbands or widowed sisters are not included in the term “Family”.
5. A member of the family whose income from. all sources, including pension, temporary increase in pension but excluding dearness relief on pension or stipend, etc. does not exceed Rs.3,5001/- p.m.. is deemed to be wholly dependent on the Government servant. [*As per 7 CPC it will be Rs. 9000/-]
1.5 Type of Leave Travel Concession:
1.5.1 Hometown LTC: The leave travel concession to hometown shall be admissible irrespective of the distance between the headquarters of the Government servant and his hometown, once in a block of two calendar years, such as 1986-87, 1988- 89 and so on. Current two year block is 2016-2017.
1.5.2 Any Place in India: The leave travel concession to any place in India shall be admissible irrespective of the distance of the place of visit from the headquarters of the Government servant, once in a block of four calendar years, such as 1986- 89, 1990-93 and so on. Current four year block is 2014-2017.
1.5.3 A Government servant whose family lives away from him at his hometown may, in lieu of all concessions under this scheme, including the leave travel concession to visit any place in India once in a block of four years which would otherwise be admissible to him and members of his family, choose to avail of leave travel concession for self only to visit the hometown every year.
The above LTC may be availed as follows:
| Year | Two Year Block | Four Year Block | Option-I | Option-2 | Option-3 |
| 2010 | Block-1 (2010-11) | (2010-13) | Hometown | Any Place in India/ Hometown | Hometown |
| 2011 | Hometown | ||||
| 2012 | Block-2 (2012-13) | Any Place in India | Hometown | Hometown | |
| 2013 | Hometown |
1.5.4 LTC for Fresh Recruits:
(1) The 6th CPC had recommended that “Fresh Recruits” to the Central Government may be allowed to travel to their Hometown along with their families on three occasions in a block of four years and to any place in India on the fourth occasion. This was accepted by the Government and orders were issued vide DoPT O.M. No. 31011/4/2008-Estt.(A) dated 23rd September 2008.
(2) This facility shall be available to the fresh recruits only for the first two blocks of four years applicable after joining the Government for the first time.
(3) The first two blocks of four years shall apply with reference to the initial date of joining the Government service even though the Govt. servant may change the job within the Government subsequently. However, as per Rule 7 of CCS (LTC) Rules, 1988, the LTC entitlement of a fresh recruit will be calculated calendar year wise with effect from the date of completion of one year of regular service.
(4) A fresh recruit who has joined Government service before 01.09.2008 (i.e. before the introduction of this scheme) and has not completed his first eight years of service as on 01.09.2008 will be eligible for this concession for the remaining time-period till the completion of first eight years of his/ her service.
(5) The first two blocks of four years of fresh recruits will be personal to them. On completion of eight years of LTC, they will be treated at par with other regular LTC beneficiaries as per the prescribed blocks like 2014-17, 2018-21 etc.
1.6 Grace Period:
(i) LTC of either type not availed till the end of the particular two year block period, it can be availed during the succeeding year. For example: any hometown or any place in India LTC against the block period 2014-15 can be availed during the grace period of one year i.e. 2016, in such case journey can be started even on 31st December 2016 and returned journey being performed in 2017.
(ii) Two LTC in a calendar year is permissible. If the Hometown LTC of the period 2014- 15 is availed in grace period in 2016, in the same year, Any Place in India LTC or Hometown LTC of the two year block of 2016-17 can be availed.
(iii) There is no compulsion to avail LTC due for the earlier block should be availed first before availing the LTC of current block. Therefore in the above example, first we can avail LTC of block period 2016-17 and then LTC of block period 2014-15 at any time before the end of December 2016.
(iv) No grace period is provided in case of entitlement of LTC as fresh recruits. Hence carryover of LTC to the next year is not allowed in case of a fresh recruit as he is already entitled to every year LTC. Hence, if a fresh recruit does not avail of the LTC facility in any year, his LTC will deem to have lapsed with the end of that year.
1.7 Hometown/Any Place in India:
Hometown means the town, village or any other place declared as such by the Government servant in the prescribed form and accepted by the controlling officer. The necessary details may be entered in the service book. No detailed verification is necessary before accepting declaration initially.
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 authorize a change in such declaration provided that, such a change shall not be made more than once during the service of a Government servant.
The criteria mentioned below may, therefore, be applied one after the other 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 interval and the Government servant 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.
Any Place in India: The expression “any place in India” will cover any place within the territory of India whether it is on the mainland, or overseas. If there are any local restrictions on visits to places in border areas, it is the responsibility of the Govt. servant undertaking the visit to fulfil the conditions for visit to the places which are subject to local restrictions.
1.8 Declaration of place of visit under leave travel concession to any place in India:
(i) Visit to the declared hometown or declared place in any place in India LTC is essential without this LTC claim will not be considered.
(ii) When the concession to visit any place in India is proposed to be availed of by a Government servant or any member of the family of such Government servant, the intended place of visit shall be declared by the Government servant in advance to his controlling officer.
The declared place of visit may be changed before the commencement of the journey with the approval of his controlling officer, but it may not be changed after the commencement of the journey except in exceptional circumstances where it is established that the request for change could not be made before the commencement of the journey owing to circumstances beyond the control of the Government servant.
This relaxation may be made by the Administrative Ministry/ Department or by the Head of the Department, as the case may be.
Note: Sanction of the Head of the Department would be required only if such change in the declared place of visit could not be intimated before the commencement of the outward journey.
1.9 Counting of leave travel concession against particular blocks:
A Government servant and members of his family availing of leave travel concession may travel in different groups at different times during a block of two or four years, as the case may be. The concession so availed of will be counted against the block of two years or four years within which the outward journey commenced, even if the return journey was performed after the expiry of the block of two years or four years. This will apply to availing of leave travel concession carried forward in terms of Rule 10.
1.10 Place to be visited by Government servant and members of his family under leave travel concession to any place in India:
A Government servant and each member of his family may visit different places of their choice during a block of four years. It shall not be necessary for members of family of a Government servant to visit the same place as that visited by the Government servant himself at any time earlier during the same block.
1.11 Prior Intimation Necessary:
Before availing leave travel concession for himself or any family members, prior intimation to the Controlling Officer is necessary.
1.12 Commencement of the journey:
In every case, the journey should be to the hometown/ place of visit and back but it need not necessarily commence from or end at the headquarters of the Government servant either in his own case or in the case of the family but the concession will be limited to the journey between the headquarters and hometown/place of visit.