CENTRAL CIVIL SERVICES (LEAVE TRAVEL CONCESSION) RULES, 1988

1. Short title, commencement and application. –

(1) These rules may be called the Central Civil Services (Leave Travel Concession) Rules, 1988.

(2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.

(3) Subject to the provisions of sub-rule (4), these rules shall apply to all persons –

(i) who are appointed to civil services and posts including civilian Government servants in the Defence Services in connection with the affairs of the Union;

(ii) who are employed under a State Government and who are on deputation with the Central Government;

(iii) who are appointed on contract basis; and

(iv) who are re-employed after their retirement.

(4) These rules shall not apply to –

(a) Government servants not in whole-time employment;

(b) persons in casual and daily rated employment;

(c) persons paid from contingencies;

(d) Railway servants;

(e) members of the Armed Forces;

(f) local recruits in Indian Missions abroad; and

(g) persons eligible to any other form of travel concession available during leave or otherwise.

2. Special provisions regarding certain categories of employees. –

(1) In the case of persons belonging to categories mentioned in clauses (ii), (iii) and (iv) of sub-rule (3) of Rule 1, the leave travel concessions shall be admissible on completion of one year’s continuous service under the Central Government and provided that it is certified by the appropriate administrative authority that the employee concerned is likely to continue to serve under the Central Government for a period of at least two years in the case of Leave Travel Concession to hometown and at least four years in the case of leave travel concession to any place in India to be reckoned from the date of his joining the post under the Central Government.

(2) In the case of officers appointed on contract basis, where the initial contract is for one year but is later extended, the total duration of the contract will be taken into account for the purpose of leave travel concession.

(3) In the case of persons re-employed, immediately after retirement without any break, the period of re-employed service will be treated as continuous with the previous service for the purpose of leave travel concession and the concession allowed for the re-employed period, provided that the leave travel concession would have been admissible to the re-employed officer had he not retired but had continued as serving officer.

Illustration:- If an officer has availed of the concession to visit any place in India in respect of a block of four years before his retirement and he is re-employed without any break, he cannot avail this concession till the expiry of the particular block of four years.

3. Scope. –

The leave travel concession will cover the Government servant himself and his family.

4. Definitions.-

In these Rules, unless the context otherwise requires, -

(a) "a place in India" will cover any place within the territory of India, whether it is on the mainland India or overseas;

(b) "controlling officer" means an officer declared as such under Supplementary Rule 191;

(c) "Disciplinary Authority" shall have the same meaning as assigned in clause (g) of Rule 2 of the Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1965;

(d) "Family" means:- see amendment

(i) the Government servant’s wife or husband, as the case may be, and two surviving unmarried children or step children wholly dependent on the Government servant, irrespective of whether they are residing with the Government servant or not;

(ii) married daughters who have been divorced, abandoned or separated from their husbands and widowed daughters and are residing with the Government servant and are wholly dependent on the Government servant;

(iii) parents and/or step mother residing with and wholly dependent on the Government servant;

(iv) unmarried minor brothers as well as unmarried, divorced, abandoned, separated from their husbands or widowed sisters residing with and wholly dependent on the Government servant, provided their parents are either not alive or are themselves wholly dependent on the Government servant.

EXPLANATIONS:

1. The restriction of the concession to only two surviving children or step children shall not be applicable in respect of (i) those employees who already have more than two children prior to the coming into force of this restriction i.e. 20.10.1997; (ii) children born within one year of the coming into force of this restriction; (iii) where the number of children exceeds two as a result of second child birth resulting in multiple births.

2. Not more than one wife is included in the term "Family" for the purpose of these Rules. However, if a Government servant has two legally wedded wives and the second marriage is with the specific permission of the Government, the second wife shall also be included in the definition of "Family".

3. Though it is not necessary for the spouse and children to reside with the Government servant so as to be eligible for the Leave Travel Concession, the concession in their cases shall, however, be restricted to the actual distance traveled or the distance between the headquarters/place of posting of the Government servant and the hometown/place of visit, whichever is less.

4. Children of divorced, abandoned, separated from their husbands or widowed sisters are not included in the term "Family".

5. A member of the family whose income from all sources, including pension, temporary increase in pension but excluding dearness relief on pension or stipend etc. does not exceed Rs.1500 p.m. is deemed to be wholly dependent on the Government servant.

(e) "hometown" means the town, village or any other place declared as such by the Government servant and accepted by the controlling officer;

(f) "shortest direct route" shall have the same meaning as given in Supplementary Rule 30 and orders issued thereunder from time to time.

Govt. of India’s Decisions

5. Change of Hometown.-

The hometown once declared and accepted by the controlling officer shall be treated as final. In exceptional circumstances, the Head of the Department or if the Government servant himself is the Head of the Department, the Administrative Ministry, may authorise a change in such declaration provided that such a change shall not be made more than once during the service of a Government servant.

Govt. of India’s Decisions

6. Declaration of place of visit under Leave Travel Concession to any place in India.-

When the concession to visit any place in India is proposed to be availed of by a Government servant or any member of the family of such Government servant, the intended place of visit shall be declared by the Government servant in advance to his controlling officer. The declared place of visit may be changed before the commencement of the journey with the approval of his controlling officer but it may not be changed after the commencement of the journey except in exceptional circumstances where it is established that the request for change could not be made before the commencement of the journey owing to circumstances beyond the control of the Govt. servant. This relaxation may be made by the Administrative Ministry/Department or by the Head of the Department, as the case may be.

7. Admissibility of Leave Travel Concession.-

(1) The leave travel concession shall be admissible to persons of the categories specified in clauses (i) and (iii) of sub-rule (3) of Rule 1 only, if they have completed one year’s continuous service under the Central Government on the date of journey performed by him or his family, as the case may be, to avail of the concession.

(2) The leave travel concession shall be admissible during any period of leave, including casual leave and special casual leave.

Govt. of India’s Decisions

8. Types of leave travel concession.- see amendment

(a) The leave travel concession to hometown shall be admissible irrespective of the distance between the headquarters of the Government servant and his hometown, once in a block of two calendar years, such as 1986-87, 1988-89 and so on.

(b) the leave travel concession to any place in India shall be admissible irrespective of the distance of the place of visit from the headquarters of the Government servant, once in a block of four calendar years, such as 1986-89, 1990-93 and so on:

Provided that in the case of a Government servant to whom leave travel concession to hometown is admissible, the leave travel concession to any place in India availed of by him shall be in lieu of, and adjusted against, the leave travel concession to hometown available to him at the time of commencement of the journey;

(c) A Government servant whose family lives away from him at his hometown may, in lieu of all concessions under this scheme, including the leave travel concession to visit any place in India once in a block of four years which would otherwise be admissible to him and members of his family, choose to avail of leave travel concession for self only to visit the hometown every year.

9. Counting of leave travel concession against particular blocks.-

A Government servant and members of his family availing of leave travel concession may travel in different groups at different times during a block of two of four years, as the case may be. The concession so availed of will be counted against the block of two years or four years within which the outward journey commenced, even if the return journey was performed after the expiry of the block of two years or four years. This will apply to availing of leave travel concession carried forward in terms of Rule 10.

10. Carry over of leave travel concession.-

A Government servant who is unable to avail of the leave travel concession within a particular block of two years or four years may avail of the same within the first year of the next block of two years or four years. If a Government servant is entitled to leave travel concession to home town, he can carry forward the leave travel concession to any place in India for a block of four years only if he has carried forward the leave travel concession to home town in respect of the second block of two years within the block of four years.

Govt. of India’s Decisions

11. Place to be visited by Government servant and members of his family under leave travel concession to any place in India.-

A Government servant and each member of his family may visit different places of their choice during a block of four years. It shall not be necessary for members of family of a Government servant to visit the same place as that visited by the Government servant himself at any time earlier during the same block.

12. Entitlement.-       see amendment       see new rates

(1) For travel under the Scheme of Leave Travel Concession the entitlement shall be as under –

(A) Journey by Air/Rail:

*All Govt. servants who are entitled to travel on LTC by First Class/AC 3-tier Sleeper/AC Chair Car may, at their discretion, travel by AC 2-tier Sleeper in cases where any of the trains connecting the originating and destination stations concerned by the direct shortest route do not provide these three classes of accommodation.

Travel by Rajdhani Express Trains:

Travel by Shatabdi Express Trains:

Note.- Entitlement by Rajdhani/Shatabdi Trains would be applicable in cases where journey is actually undertaken by these trains and not for determining entitlement on notional basis. Both ends of the journey, i.e., place of start of the journey and the destination should be directly connected by Rajdhani/Shatabdi Express.

(B) Journey by Sea or by River Steamer:

Accommodation entitlements for travel between the mainland and the Andaman & Nicobar Group of Islands and the Lakshadweep Group of Islands by ships operated by the Shipping Corporation of India Limited will be as follows:-

(C) Journey by Road:

NOTE.- In all cases of travel by AC Taxi, Taxi or Autorickshaw production of fare receipt will be necessary.

(2) Journey by road.-

(i) Where a public transport system as aforesaid does not exist, the assistance will be regulated as in case of journeys undertaken on transfer.

(ii) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-rule (1) or Clauses (i) and (ii) of sub-rule (2), where a Govt. servant travelling by road takes a seat or seats in a bus, van or other vehicle operated by Tourism Development Corporations in the Public Sector, State Transport Corporations and Transport services run by other Government or local bodies to visit any place in India, the reimbursement shall be either the actual hire charges or the amount reimbursable on the journey to the declared place of visit had the journey been undertaken by entitled class by rail by the shortest direct route, whichever is less. Reimbursement shall not be admissible for journey by a private car (owned, borrowed or hired), or a bus, van or other vehicle owned by private operators.

(3) By Air.- The Govt. servant may travel by air between places not connected by rail, where an alternative means of travel is either not available or is more expensive.

(4) In regard to places in territory of India connected by shipping services, the entitlement of a Govt. servant to travel by ship will be regulated as in the case of journeys by ship undertaken on transfer.

(5) Travel between places not connected by any other means of transport.- For travel between places not connected by any other means of transport, a Govt. servant can avail of animal transport like pony, elephant, camel, etc. In such cases mileage allowance will be admissible at the same rate as for journeys on transfer.

EXPLANATION.- For the purpose of this Rule, "Pay" shall mean pay as defined in FR 9 (21) (a) (I). [Now Basic pay + NPA+SI-vide GID (1) below SR 17 and OM, dated 7.6.1990.]

Govt. of India’s Decisions

13. Reimbursement.-

Reimbursement under the leave travel concession scheme shall not cover incidental expenses and expenditure incurred on local journeys. Reimbursement for expenses of journey shall be allowed only on the basis of a point to point journey on a through ticket over the shortest direct route.

Govt. of India’s Decisions

14. Forfeiture of claim.-

A claim for reimbursement of expenditure incurred on journey under leave travel concession shall be submitted within three months after the completion of the return journey, if no advance had been drawn. Failure to do so will entail forfeiture of the claim and no relaxation shall be permissible in this regard.

15. Grant of advance and adjustment thereof.-

(i) Advance may be granted to Government servants to enable them to avail themselves of the concession. The amount of such advance in each case shall be limited to four-fifths of the estimated amount, which Government would have to reimburse in respect of the cost of the journey both ways.

(ii) If the family travels separately from the Government servant, the advance may also be drawn separately to the extent admissible.

(iii) The advance may be drawn both for the forward and return journeys at the time of commencement of the forward journey, provided the period of leave taken by the Government servant or the period of anticipated absence of the members of the family does not exceed three months or ninety days. If this limit is exceeded, then the advance may be drawn for the outward journey only.

(iv) If the limit of 3 months or ninety days is exceeded after the advance had already been drawn for both the journeys, one half of the advance should be refunded to the Government forthwith.

(v) The advance should be refunded in full if the outward journey is not commenced within 30 days of the grant of advance. However, in cases where reservations can be made sixty days before the proposed date of the outward journey and advance is granted accordingly, the Government servant should produce the tickets within ten days of the drawal of advance, irrespective of the date of commencement of the journey.

(vi) Where an advance has been drawn by a Government servant, the claim for reimbursement of the expenditure incurred on the journey shall be submitted within one month of the completion of the return journey. On a Government servant’s failure to do so, he shall be required to refund the entire amount of advance forthwith in one lump sum. No request for recovery of the advance in instalments shall be entertained.

Govt. of India’s Decisions

16. Fraudulent claim of leave travel concession.-

(1) If a decision is taken by the Disciplinary Authority to initiate disciplinary proceedings against a Government servant on the charge of preferring a fraudulent claim of leave travel concession, such Government servant shall not be allowed the leave travel concession till the finalisation of such disciplinary proceedings.

(2) If the disciplinary proceedings result in imposition of any of the penalties specified in Rule 11 of the Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1965, the Government servant shall not be allowed the next two sets of the leave travel concession in addition to the sets already withheld during the pendancy of the disciplinary proceedings. For reasons to be recorded in writing, the controlling authority can also disallow more than two sets of leave travel concession.

(3) If the Government servant is fully exonerated of the charge of fraudulent claim of leave travel concession, he shall be allowed to avail of the concession withheld earlier as additional set (s) in future block years but before the normal date of his superannuation.

EXPLANATION.- For the purpose of this rule, leave travel concession to hometown and leave travel concession to any place in India as specified in clauses (a) and (b) of Rule 8 shall constitute two sets of the leave travel concession.

17. Interpretation.-

If there is any doubt regarding any of the provisions in these rules, the matter shall be referred to the Government of India in the Department of Personnel and Training, who shall decide the same.

18. Power to relax.-

Save as otherwise provided in these rules, where any Ministry or Department of the Government is satisfied that the operation of any of these rules causes undue hardship in any particular case, that Ministry or Department, as the case may be, may, by order, for reasons to be recorded in writing, dispense with or relax the requirements of that rule to such extent and subject to such exception and conditions as it may consider necessary for dealing with the case in a just and equitable manner:

Provided that no such order shall be made except with the concurrence of the Department of Personnel and Training.

19. Saving.-

All the existing instructions which are not contrary to any of the provisions of these rules and all instructions which cover matters not specifically covered by these rules, shall continue to be in force until they are amended, modified or cancelled.