In a massive drive against leave Travel Concession (lTC) claims by fraudulent means by Government staff, the Centre has asked all the departments to carry out random checks of air tickets submitted by their employees to stop any misuse of lTC claims.
The Government officials and other staff members have been warned of ‘serious’ punitive actions in case of misuse of lTC claims. In a series of reports, The Pioneer first exposed the misuse of lTC claims and nexus of officials and travel agents within the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). later, inquiry revealed that the racket flourished in several departments of the Government and involved MPs also.
The Pioneer had reported how in complete violation of the service rules, top officials of the road making agency visited neighbouring countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand etc, along with their family members by claiming lTC to travel within home land. In most cases, they would submit fake boarding passes and related documents to claim the lTC.
“In order to check any misuse of lTC, Ministries or departments are advised to randomly get some of the air tickets submitted by the officials verified from the airlines concerned with regard to the actual cost of air travel vis-a- vis the cost indicated on the air tickets,” said a Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) order last week.
The DoPT also advised the Ministries, departments and Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) to issue warnings to their employees that any misuse of lTC would not be pardoned. According to service rules, any Government employee found guilty of preferring a fraudulent lTC claim may be penalised and barred from getting travel allowance for the next two or three years.
Recently, BJP MP Kirti Azad too wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Road Transport Ministry about the misuse of lTC by Government staff.