7th Pay Commission: Modified LTC air ticket booking rules for Central Govt Employees

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has modified instructions for booking air tickets on the Government account in respect of Leave Travel Concession (LTC).

In an Office Memorandum dated October 20, DoPT said it has been receiving a number of representations seeking clarifications on issues relating to the settlement of claims, particularly of those government employees who have not retained the screenshot of the concerned webpage of the authorised travel Agents (ATAs) during the booking of air tickets, as provided under the OM dated 29.8.2022.

Al! Three authorized travel agents – M/s Balmer Lawrie & Company Limited (BLCL), M/s Ashok Travels & Tours (ATT), and Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd. (!RCTC) – are to display the details of the flight having the cheapest fare and the flight(s) having the fare 10% more than the cheapest fare only, in the desired time slot, at the time of booking the air tickets by the Government employees for the purpose of LTC journey.

With the above, the booking of air ticket for the purpose of LTC on the website of these three authorized travel agents shall itself be a proof that the ticket booked by the individual government employee was of the cheapest fare as provided under the guidelines.

All three authorized agents will indicate the word ‘LTC’ on tickets issued for the LTC journey.

Also Read: Three New LTC Rules for Central Government Employees in August

In all cases wherein the non-entitled Government employees are to travel by air under Special Dispensation Scheme directly from their Headquarters/place of posting to the place of visit in NER/J&K/A&N/Ladakh, the Government employees shall continue to take the print-out of the concerned webpage having flight and fare details of the flight for relevant railhead viz. Kolkata/ Guwahati/ Delhi/Amritsar/ Chennai/ Vishakhapatnam to the place of visit viz. NER or UT of J&K or UT of Ladakh or UT of A&N within the same time-slot where the direct flight has been booked for the purpose of reimbursement.

In case the flight tickets are not available in the same slot, the print out of the details of the flights available in the next slot may be retained for the purpose of settlement of claims, as provided under Point (ii) of the title “Provisions for Reimbursement” in OM dated 29.8.2022, referred to above.

All the three ATAs have also been directed to allow the registration of those employees who do not have official email accounts provided their administrative office sends their details depicting their names, employee code no., private email lDs and mobile numbers, etc. to the travel agents for the purpose of booking the air tickets in respect of LTC journey.