LTC rules further relaxed for air journeys to Northeast, J&K and Andaman

THE government last week extended some additional clarifications regarding travel by government employees under Leave Travel Concession (LTC) to Northeast, Jammu and Kashmir and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. According to the clarifications…

the government will now compare the airfare from the headquarters or the place of posting to the destinations with part journeys by train and air to those areas, and will then allow reimbursement of the one which is less. And this clarification is meant for those government employees who are otherwise not allowed to reimburse airfares for under the LTC. 

To understand the clarification which was announced through a new office memorandum (OM) dated June 20, let's first take into account the prevailing LTC rules. 

Till the last week, the rule was that the government would reimburse LTC on air journeys between Kolkata/Guwahati and any place in Northeast, between Kolkata/Chennai/Visakhapatnam and Port Blair, and between Delhi/Amritsar and any place in Jammu and Kashmir, for those government employees who are otherwise not entitled to reimburse airfare for their LTC travel. 

But they had to take a train journey from the headquarters to Kolkata, Guwahati, Delhi, Amritsar, Visakhapatnam etc. before taking a flight to the final destination. 

But now, after the last week’s office memorandum, those employees who were not entitled to travel by air under LTC, will be allowed to take a flight right from the headquarters or the place of posting to the destination in the Northeast, Jammu and Kashmir or Andaman and Nicobar Islands, provided the fare is less than that of the combined journeys (by train to Kolkata, Guwahati, Delhi, Amritsar or Visakhapatnam etc and then by flight to the final destination). 

For further understanding, one should check the OM being posted in the DoPT website.