Planning an LTC vacation by train? You can now draw the advance money 125 days before the journey

IF YOU are a government employee planning to go on a vacation on LTC (Leave Travel Concession), you can draw the advance 125 days prior to the journey, provided you travel by train. The government in an order has relaxed the time-limit for withdrawal of LTC advance to 125 days from earlier 65 days. The logic for relaxation has to do with the decision of the…

Indian Railways increasing the Advance Reservation Period (ARP) for booking accommodation in trains from 60 days to 120 days (excluding the date of journey) with effect from April 1, 2015. So, the DoPT in turn in an office memorandum dated May 13, 2016 said, “the time-limit for drawal of LTC advance by the Government servants may be increased from 65 days (i.e. 2 months and 5 days) to 125 days (i.e. 4 months and 5 days) in case of journey by train”.

So, according to new rules, the government employee can draw advance for LTC journey for himself and his family members 125 days before the proposed date of the outward journey.

But the government has decided not to relax the same for those who travel on air, sea or road and avail of the LTC. “Cases where the LTC journey is proposed to be undertaken by other modes of transport viz. air/sea/road, the time-limit for drawing LTC advance shall remain 65 days only”, the office memorandum said. 

The order has further made it clear that all the cases, where an advance is drawn for the purpose of availing LTC, it will be mandatory for the government servants to “produce the outward journey tickets to the Competent Authority within ten days of drawal of advance in order to verify that he has actually utilised the amount to purchase the tickets”. 

The order signed by a DoPT under secretary, has been issued to secretaries of all the ministries and departments.