LTC for Central Government Employees

LTC for Central Government Employees – Central Civil Services (Leave Travel Concession) Rules, 1988 – Time Limit fixed for Leave Sanction, LTC Advance and Processing of LTC Claims

LTC for central government employees time limit fixed It’s a good news for Central Government Employees who intend to travel by availing Leave Travel Concession (LTC) granted by Govt. After releasing the proposal for fixation of Time Limit for LTC related processing by Administration which was circulated for comments and suggestions last month (Click here to read proposal for fixing time limit released by DOPT last month), DOPT has come up with Office Memorandum to regulate the time taken by the Administration while processing LTC related documents at various stages.

As per this OM, sanction of leave for the purpose tour for LTC is availed will have to be processed within 5 working days with additional 3 days for the purpose of transit time in the case of employees posted outside Headquarters.

Similarly, application for LTC Advance, Leave Encashment Advance will have to be processed within 5 working days with additional 3 days for the purpose of transit time

As fars LTC claims made by the employees, a time limit of 10 working days with additional 3 days for the purpose of transit time has been allowed.

In addition to fixation of Time limit DOPT has also modified the present procedure of informing controlling office by the employee before proceeding on tour while availing LTC. As per the revised instructions the Leave Sanctioning Authority will have to obtain a self certification from the employee regarding the journey under LTC.

DOPT has also issued certain guidelines to Employees who are availing LTC in this OM

Checkout following OM dated 18.02.2016 for more details

No. 31011/3/2015-Estt (A.IV)

Government of India

Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions

Department of Personnel and Training

Establishment A-IV Desk

North Block, New Delhi-110 001

Dated: February 18, 2016

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject:- Central Civil Services (Leave Travel Concession) Rules, 1988 – Fulfillment of procedural requirements.

This Department is in receipt of a number of references regarding the procedural difficulties faced by the Government employees in application and settlement of the LTC claims. Sometimes, the Government servants claim that failure to follow the correct procedure was on account of a lack of knowledge of the rules/instructions. It is alleged that in some cases, processing of LTC claims takes unduly long time, particularly when the employee and the sanctioning authorities are located at different stations.

2. To remove these bottlenecks, it has been decided to simplify the procedure of application and make the procedure of processing of LTC claims time bound. The following time-limits shall be followed while processing the LTC applications/claims of the Government servants.

S.No.	Course of action	Time limit
1.	Leave Sanction	5 working day + 3 working days*
2.	Sanction of LTC encashment advance/Leave	5 working day+ 3 working days*
3.	Time taken by Administration for verification of LTC claim after the LTC bill is submitted by the Government employee for settlement.	10 working days + 3 working days*
4.	Time taken by DDO	5 working days + 3 working days*
5.	Time taken by PAO	5 working days + 3 working days*

*(a) Additional 3 days transit-time may be allowed in cases where the place of posting of the Government employees is away from their Headquarters, The Government employee may proceed on LTC after action on S.No. l.

(b) Efforts should be made to reduce the duration of processing of LTC applications/claims at the earliest. The maximum time limit should be strictly adhered to and non-compliance of time limit should be adequately explained.

3. Under CC (LTC) Rules, the Government servants are required to inform their Controlling Office before the journey(s) on LTC to be undertaken. It has now been decided that the Leave Sanctioning Authority shall obtain a self-certification from the employee regarding the proposed LTC journey. The proforma for self-certification has been annexed with is O.M.

4. In addition to the above, it has been decided that whenever a Government servant applies to LTC, he/she should be provided with a copy of the guidelines (enclosed) which needs to be followed while availing LTC.

5. Employees ay be encouraged to share interesting insights and pictures, if any, of the destination he/s e visited while availing LTC in an appropriate forum.

(Surya Narayan Jha)

Under Secretary to the Government of India

Proforma for self-certification by the Government employee

I Sh./Smt./Kr (Name of the Govt. servant) wish to confirm that I am availing (Home Town/ Any Place in India) LTC in respect of self/ family member(s) for the block year to visit ………………………………………….. (Place of visit) during ………………..(dates of journey). It is stated that I or the family member for whom I wish to avail LTC has/have not availed of the same before in the present block.

2. The Particulars of members of family in respect of whom the Leave Travel Concession is being claimed are as under:

Sl No	Name(s)	Age	Relationship with the Govt Servant

3. It is certified that the above facts are true and any false statement shall make me liable for appropriate action under Rule 16 of CCS(LTC) Rules, 1988 and the relevant disciplinary rules.

* N.B.: The Government employee may share interesting insights and pictures, if any, of the destination visited while availing LTC on an appropriate forum.

Guidelines

1. Please ensure that you have applied for leave and submitted the self-certification form to your Administration before the LTC journey is undertaken.

2. Please check your eligibility before applying for LTC. LTC to Home Town can be availed once in a block of two years and LTC to Any Place in India may be availed once in a four year block. If not availed during these blocks, the LTC may also be availed in the first year of the following block.

3. Please note that the current two year block is 2016-17 and the current four year block is 2014-17.

4. In case of fresh recruits, LTC to Home Town is allowed on three occasions in a block of four years and to any place in India on the fourth occasion. This facility is available to the fresh recruits only for the first two blocks of four years applicable after joining the Government service for the first time. (For details, please refer to DoPT’s O.M. No. 31011/7/2013-Estt.(A-IV) dated 26.09.2014 available on www.persmin.nic.in << ‘OMs & Orders'<< ‘Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on LTC entitlements of a Fresh Recruit‘)

5. A Fresh recruit may at his option choose to avail LTC under the normal LTC rules as applicable to other Government employees. In this case he/she will not be allowed to avail other LTCs as admissible to the fresh recruits in that block of four years.

6. The retiring Government employees are eligible to avail LTC as per their entitlement provided that the return journey is performed before their date of retirement. LTC is not allowed after retirement.

7. The Journeys on LTC are to be undertaken in the entitled class of the Government servant in public/Government mode of transport.

8. Travel by private modes of transport is not allowed on LTC, however, wherever a public transport is not available, assistance shall be allowed for the private transport subject to the certification from an Appropriate Authority that no other public/Government mode of transport is available for that particular stretch of journey and these modes operate on a regular basis from point to point with the specific approval of the State Governments/Transport authorities concerned and are authorised to ply as public carriers.

9. If a Government servant travels on LTC upto the nearest airport/ railway station by authorized mode of transport and chooses to complete rest of the journey to the declared place of visit by own arrangement (such as personal vehicle or private taxi etc.), while the public transport system is already available in that part, then he may be allowed the fare reimbursement till the last point where he has travelled by the authorised mode of transport. This will be subject to the undertaking from the Government employee that he has actually travelled to the declared place of visit and is not claiming the fare reimbursement for the part of journey performed by the private owned/operated vehicle.

10. Government servant may apply for advance for himself and/or his family members sixty five days before the proposed date of the outward journey and he/she is required to produce the tickets within ten days of the drawal of advance, irrespective of the date of commencement of the journey.

11. Reimbursement under LTC scheme does not cover incidental expenses and expenditure incurred on local journeys. Reimbursement for expenses of journey is allowed only; the basis of a point to point journey on a through ticket over the shortest direct route

12. The time limit or submission of LTC claim is:

Within three months of completion of return journey, if no advance is drawn;
Within one month of completion of return journey, if advance is drawn.

13. Government employees entitled to travel by air are required to travel by Air India only in Economy Class at LTC-80 fare or less unless permitted to do so by any general or specific provision.

14. Government e employees not entitled to travel by air may travel by any airline, however, reimbursement in such cases shall be restricted to the fare of their entitled class of train/transport or actual expense, whichever is less.

15. In all cases whenever a Govt. servant claims LTC by air, he/she is required to book the air tickets either directly through the airlines or through the approved travel agencies viz: s Balmer Lawrie & Co. Ltd/ M/s Ashok Tours & Travels Ltd/ IRCTC. Booking of tickets through any other agency is not permissible.

16. Travel on tour packages is not allowed, except in the case of tours conducted by Indian Tourist / Development Corporation (ITDC), State Tourism Development Corporation (STDC) and Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC). In such cases, only the fare component shall be reimbursable provided ITDC/STDC/IR TC separately indicate the fare component and certify that the journey was act ally performed by the Government servant and his family members for which he/she is claiming the Leave Travel Concession.

17. Please ensure that your LTC claim is as per the instructions to avoid rejection of your claim.

*****

“Have a pleasant journey and a happy holiday”

Download DoPT No. 31011/3/2015-Estt (A.IV) dated18.02.2016