Standing Committee Discussion Points S.No.15 – Purchasing of LTC ticket from unauthorised agents
S.No.15 – Grant of one time relaxation to the Central Government employees who have availed LTC-80 and travelled by air by purchasing ticket from authorities other than authorised agents.
Establishment Division had through their letter dated 03.02.2017 informed that DoPT was in receipt of complaints regarding misuse/corruption in LTC especially in cases of LTC-availed travel to Jammu & Kashmir, North East regions and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. In the wake of reported scams, DoPT has been impressing upon the need for booking the LTC tickets from authorised agents and has been circulating such instructions amongst Ministries / Departments to create awareness amongst Government employees. Granting en-manse relaxations without proper examination of the LTC claims may not serve any public interest and in fact may encourage the unscrupulous persons. The Division is of the view that the Ministries/ Departments need to examine the cases on merit. Only exceptional cases where the Ministry/ Department is satisfied that undue hardship is being caused in any particular case, it may be referred to DoPT for consideration. In cases of any fraudulent claims/ attempts to inflate the claims, appropriate disciplinary action should be taken by the respective Department.
Staff-Side stated that Group C and D employees were not aware of the rules. They were also not informed that they would have to procure tickets from the authorised agent or from the website of airlines. Later a clarification was issued that tickets were to be purchased from the authorised agents. At the same time, notices had also been issued that the amount would be recovered from salaries in case of non-compliance. They stated that if somebody had done wrong or had not travelled at all, then action may be taken. However, if the persons had submitted proper bills and boarding passes, they should not be subjected to recovery.
Staff-Side stated that DoPT had advised that each case should be sent after examination on merit and had also sought details of number of cases. JS(E) stated that the total number of employees have not been ascertained and no definite answer on the number of employees who are affected by this has been given. On this, Chairman observed that giving an exact number may be difficult as it could be in thousands. Staff Side suggested that the concerned administration which gave the LTC advance may examine if the employee had actually travelled. If there is any difference in the fare charged by Air India on the day of travel, the excess amount may be recovered from the employee. It was stated that the employees are facing hardship as it was not initially specified to them that they should purchase ticket only from an authorised agent or from the website of the airlines.
It was decided that Establishment Division of DoPT should relook into the issue in view of the difficulty faced by the employees.
{Action: Establishment Division (DoPT)}