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Leave travel concession facility extended for two years for Central Government employees

The Department of Personnel and Training has extended the Leave Travel Concession facility for two years for government employees to travel to Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Northeast Region and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. This exemption was expiring on 25 September 2024. Now it has been extended till 25 September 2026. Eligible officers and employees of the Central Government can travel to Jammu and Kashmir, Northeast Region, Ladakh and Andaman and Nicobar in lieu of LTC for their hometown. Eligible employees of the Central Government will get the benefit of LTC to travel to Jammu and Kashmir, Northeast, Ladakh, and Andaman Nicobar in lieu of going to their hometown. Apart from this, this air travel facility has also been made available to non-eligible government employees. They can travel by air from their headquarters to Jammu and Kashmir, Northeast, Ladakh, and Andaman Nicobar in economy class.

According to DoPT, such government employees, whose home town and headquarters/place of posting are the same, will not get this facility. Meaning, they will not be able to get their home town NTC converted. Those government employees, whose home town is in Northeast, Ladakh, Jammu Kashmir and Andaman Nicobar, will get the facility of conversion of home town NTC. They will be allowed to travel on LTC in the other three areas except their home town. Newly recruited employees can get one home town LTC converted out of three home town LTCs in a block period of four years. Apart from this, they will get an opportunity for an additional home town conversion LTC. They can travel to Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh in a block period of four years.

According to a DoPT official, giving relaxation in the Central Civil Services Rules 1988, government employees have been allowed to travel by air to travel to Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Union Territory of Ladakh, Northeast states and Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. This is a very big and special facility for government employees. All eligible Government servants can avail LTC for visiting Jammu & Kashmir or North East or any of these areas in lieu of conversion of one of their home town LTC in a block of four years. However, conversion is not permitted for Government servants whose home town and place of posting are the same. Government servants who are otherwise not entitled to air travel will also be permitted to travel by air in economy class by any airline under the norms of this scheme, subject to the maximum fare limit of LTC-80 scheme.

All Ministries and Departments were advised to carry out random verification of air tickets to check discrepancies between the actual cost of travel of the employee and the cost claimed by him. Any misuse of the LTC Scheme will attract appropriate action under Government rules. This may include financial penalty or disciplinary action. The air tickets submitted by the employees may be checked and the airline concerned may be enquired whether the employee has undertaken LTC journey or not. Let us tell you that in 2021, a big fraud was revealed in the 'LTC' scheme given to the employees of the Central Government. In the last ten years, there were many such employees in various ministries and departments, who fraudulently got the LTC bills for air travel passed. In the orders issued by the Department of Expenditure and Comptroller and Auditor General of the Finance Ministry, it was said that internal audit should be started in all the departments without any delay. In this, find out which employee has claimed the amount of LTC by submitting fake bills of air travel. Which employee has bought tickets from an unauthorized agency, how many such employees are there who have traveled in a private airline other than the fixed airlines. The tickets submitted by the government employees will have to be matched by going to the agency's office. All ministries and departments were asked to investigate the LTC documents of the employees and submit the report by September 30.