Central Civil Services (Leave Travel concession) Rules, 1988. DOPT Guidelines for applying for LTC - Block Year, Advance, Claim, Time Limit etc.

Guidelines

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

2. Please check the 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.permin.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 entitled to other regular Government employees subject to the condition that he/she will have to forego his/her eight years LTC entitlement. It may be noted that the option once exercised shall be treated as final for the initial eight occasions of LTC and the fresh recruit shall not be allowed to change it in a later stage.

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

7. 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 upto the nearest airport/ railway station by authorized mode of transport and chooses to complete the journey to the declared place of visit by `own arrangement’ (such as personal vehicle or private taxi etc.), if the public transport is already available in that part, then he may be allowed the fare for the journey performed by 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 same.

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 on the basis of a point to point journey on a through ticket over the shortest direct route.

12.The time limit for 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 officials 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. Officers not entitled to travel by air may travel by any airlines, however, reimbursement in such cases shall be restricted to the fare of their entitled class of train or actual expense, whichever is less.

15.In all cases whenever a Govt. servant travels by air, he/she is required to book the air tickets either directly through the airlines or through the approved travel agencies viz: M/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 Tourism 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/IRCTC separately indicate the fare component and certify that the journey was actually performed by the Government servant and his family members for which he is claiming the Leave Travel Concession.

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