Wednesday, May 11, 2011

LEAVE TRAVEL CONCESSION - RULES

Types of leave travel concession:-
1.Home Town:-
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 2006-2007, 2008-2009 and so on.
("Hometown" means the town, village or any other place declared as such by the Government servant and accepted by the controlling officer)
2.Any Place in India:-
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 2006-2007, 2008-2009 and so on:
(The expression "any place in India" will cover any place within the territory of India whether it is on the mainland, or overseas. If there are any local restrictions on visits to places in border areas, it is the responsibility of the Govt. servant undertaking the visit to fulfil the conditions for visit to the places which are subject to local restrictions.)

Govt. of India’s Decision-Leave Travel Concession
Fresh recruits to Central Government may be are allowed to travel to their home town along with their families on three occasions in a block of four years and to any place in India on the fourth occasion.
This facility shall be available to the Government officers only for the first two blocks of four years applicable after joining the Government for the first time. The blocks of 4 years shall apply with reference to the initial date of joining the Government even though the employee changes the job within Government subsequently. The existing blocks will remain the same but the entitlements of the new recruit will be different in the first eight years of service. All other provisions concerning frequency of travel under LTC are retained.

Travel entitlements:-
For the purpose of official tour/transfer or LTC, will be the same but no daily allowance shall be admissible for travel on LTC. Further, the facility shall be admissible only in respect of journeys performed in vehicles operated by the Government or any Corporation in the public sector run by the Central or State Government or a local body.

Air Journey by Private Airlines
will however, continue to be admissible as per Ministry of Finance O.M. No. 19024/1/E-IV/2005 dated the 24th March, 2006

(1)LTC to a newly married husband of a female Government servant:-
When a female Govt. servant proceeds to her hometown, availing of Leave Travel Concession and gets married in the hometown, LTC may be allowed also to be husband of the female Govt. servant, for the journey performed by him from the hometown to the headquarters of the female Govt. servant.[OM No. 48/2/65-Ests.(A), dated 2.4.1965]

(2)Change of Hometow:-
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.

(3)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.

(4)Advance may be granted up to 90% of the estimated Fare:-
The President has been pleased to decide that employees of the Lakshadweep and A&N Administrations may be sanctioned an advance of 90% of the estimated ship fare fromIsland to Mainland and back for availing Annual Free Sea Passage. It has also been decided to increase the amount of advance for availing LTC from 80% to 90% of estimated fare in respect of the Central Govt. employees.

(5)Encashment of earned leave along with LTC Leave Travel Concession:-
(a) Government officers are allowed to encash ten days earned leave at the time of availing of LTC to the extent of sixty days during the entire career.
(b) The leave encashed at the time of LTC will not be deducted from the maximum amount of earned leave encashable at the time of retirement.
(c) It is further clarified that where both husband and wife are Government servants, the present entitlement for availing LTC shall remain unchanged, and encashment of leave equal to 10 days at the time of availing of LTC will continue to be available to both, subject to a maximum of sixty days each during the career.
(d) At least equal number of days of earned leave should be availed along with encashment
(e) The balance at credit should more than 30 days after deducting the total of leave availed plus leave for which encahment was availed.

Leave Travel Concession Rules 
as per 6th CPC - (w.e.f. 01.09.2008)
1. LTC Rules is allowed all Government servants irrespective of the distance between headquarters and their home town.
2. LTC Rules is allowed Hometown" means the town, village or any other place declared as such by the servant and accepted by the controlling officer.
3. LTC Rules is allowed only to those who have completed one year of service on the date of journey.
4. LTC Rules is allowed for self and family.
5. LTC Rules is allowed only to the family (in the case of an employee under suspension).
6. LTC Rules is allowed to journey to “Home Town” once in a block of two years.
7. LTC Rules is allowed journey to “Any place in India” once in a block of four years.
8. LTC Rules is allowed to expression "any place in India" will cover any place within the territory of India whether it is on the mainland, or overseas.
9. LTC Rules is allowed journey to “Any place in India” in lieu of one journey to Home Town.
10. LTC Rules is allowed availing during all leave periods
(Earn/Casual/S.Casual/Study/Maternity/Paternity).
11. LTC Rules is allowed all journeys to travel by Rail/Road/Air/Ship.
12. LTC Rules is allowed privilege not availed during a block may be availed before end of the next year.
13. LTC Rules is allowed allow family members independently in any number of batches.
14. LTC Rules is allowed traveling to “Any place in India” the employee and or members of the family may travel either to the same place or different places of their choice.
15. LTC Rules is allowed traveling to visit “Any place in India” or can visit his same Home Town also.
16. LTC Rules is allowed in the same two-year block, some members of family can avail Home Town concession while other “Any place in India”.
17. LTC Rules is allowed reimbursement by the entitled class or actually traveled class, whichever is less.
18. LTC Rules is allowed 90 per cent of the anticipated reimbursement amount may be granted as advance.
19. LTC Rules is allowed Grade Pay holders of Rs.2400,2600 and 2800 can go AC-II Tier class by train.
20. LTC Rules is allowed Grade Pay holders of below Rs.2400 can go AC-III Tier / First Class / AC-Chair Car class by train.

Earned Leave Encashment Facility :-
1. Earned Leave up to a maximum of ten days at a time may be enchased, subject to the condition that at least an equivalent duration of Earned Leave.
2. This is limited to a maximum of 60 days during the entire career and the total number of days so enchased will not be included for computing maximum quantum of leave encashable at the time of quitting service.
3. The balance at credit should be but less than 30 days after deducting the total of leave availed plus leave for which encashment was availed.
4. Where both husband and wife are government servants, encashment of leave will continue to be available to both, subject to maximum limit of 60 days.

Block Year :-
1. The LTC to home town is allowed once in a block of two calendar years, such as 2006-2007, 2008-2009 and so on.
2. The LTC to “Any Place in India” is allowed once in a block of four calendar years, such as 2006 - 2009 and so on.
Husband and Wife…
When both the husband and wife are Central Government servants:
1. They can declare separate Home Town independently.
2. They can claim LTC for their respective families, viz,. While the husband can claim for his parents / minor brothers / sisters, the wife can avail for her parents / minor brother / sisters.
3. Either of the parents can claim the concession for the children in a particular block;
4. The husband / wife who avails LTC as a member of the family of the spouse, cannot claim independently for SELF.

Family – definition…
1. The Government servant’s wife or husband and two surviving unmarried children or stepchildren wholly dependent on the Government servant, irrespective of whether they are residing with the Government servant or not.
2. Married daughters divorced, abandoned or separated from their husbands and widowed daughters and are residing with the Government servant and wholly dependent on the Government servant.
3. Parents and / or step-parents (stepfather and stepmother) whole dependent on the Government servant, whether residing with the Government servant or not:
4. 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.

Change of Home Town…
“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.”
The CCS Rule allow an employee to change the Permanent Address given in their Service Records for once in their service.
The employee can apply for this through their respective Head of Section enclosing the relationship and residential proof of the new address.
Care to be taken before applying for the change of address as this facility will be available only once in their service. After changing the Permanent Address the employee is eligible to apply for Home Town LTC.
Those employees who are residing on the outskirts of their work place, automatically they are ineligible for LTC HomeTown. For the benefit of these employees, a male employee can give the address of his wife’s native place or opposite, after the marriage of son or daughter, their residing place like that…But the respective Head of Section has the right to turn down the application.

Income Tax for Leave Travel Concession Amount
The LTC that you get is fully exempt from Income Tax, provided it satisfies certain conditions. Here are the conditions.
The amount is actually spent on travel:
You have to actually spend this amount on transportation. The spending cab be for you and your family members, but you have to be one of the travelers.
Here, family means spouse and children (including adopted children and stepchildren). Parents, brothers and sisters are also included if they are dependent on you.
It has to be for transportation:
The amount has to be spent on transportation either Air, Rail or Road.
Any amount spent for lodging and boarding is not considered. Thus, food related expenses and hotel expenses are not exempt from income tax.
Also, this exemption is for primary travel between your city of stay and your destination. Other travel expenses like taxi / cab fare, auto fare, etc, can not be claimed as exempt. The travel has to be within India, foreign travel is not considered.
Carry forward of LTC benefits:
What if you can not claim LTC exemption for some reason? No need to worry. The exemption doesn’t lapse, it can be carried forward to the next block of four years.
The only condition in this case is that the exemption has to be availed in the very first year of this subsequent block.
Thus, in this next block, you can claim a total of three exemptions.
Leave encashment – is it taxable?
The amount received from any leave enchased while you are still in service is added to your income, and is fully taxable. It is taxed as per the income tax slab applicable to you.

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