1. Buy tickets from airlines, authorized agents for LTC
Employees should buy air tickets directly from airlines or through authorised travel
agents for claiming Leave Travel Concession (LTC), the government said today. The
employees can book tickets by utilizing the services of authorised travel agents-- M/s
Balmer Lawrie & Company, M/s Ashok Travels & Tours, and IRCTC, it said.
The directive came after it came to the notice of the government that in a number of
cases these instructions were not being followed by the employees. CBI is probing fake
travel bills scam (LTC scam) allegedly involving certain government employees and
present and former Members of Parliament. "The most common reasons given by the
employees are unawareness of the rules and non-availability of authorized travel agents
viz M/s Ashok Travels, M/S Balmer Lawrie & Company at places where the tickets have
been booked from. "Even in such cases, the option of booking directly from the airlines
through their website is available. In no case is the booking of tickets through any other
agency is permissible," the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said in an
office memorandum.
All the ministries or departments of the government are advised to ensure that their
employees are made aware of these guidelines to avoid breach of any of the LTC rules, it
said.
Business Standard - 19.06.2014
http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/buy-tickets-from-airlines-
authorized-agents-for-ltc-govt-to-114061901032_1.html
Buy Tickets from Authorized Agents, Airlines for LTC, Government tells
Employees
Employees of the government must buy air tickets directly from the airline or through
travel agents authorized by the government for claim of Leave Travel Concession (LTC),
said the government on Thursday. It said that employees should book tickets by utilizing
services of authorized travel agents, namely IRCTC, M/s Ashok Travels & Tours, and M/s
Balmer Lawrie & Company. This directive from the government came after it was noticed
that in many cases, the instructions were not followed by its employees. A fake travel
bills scam (LTC scam) is presently being probed by the CBI. The scam allegedly involves
certain employees of the government, as well as present and former MPs. The
Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said that the most common reasons that
had been given by employees was that they were unaware of rules and non-availability
of authorized travel agents viz M/s Balmer Lawrie & Company, M/s Ashok Travels at
places where tickets were booked from. The DoPT further stressed that in such cases,
there was an option of booking directly from the concerned airline via their website and
that in no other case was booking of tickets through another agency permissible. All
ministries or government departments have been advised to make sure that its
employees are aware of the guidelines in order to avoid the breach of any rules of LTC.
The Indian Republic - 19.06.2014
http://www.theindianrepublic.com/nation/buy-tickets-authorized-agents-airlines-ltc-
government-tells-employees-100040441.html