Air India charges 80-150 per cent extra for LTC tickets from govt employees

National carrier Air India (AI) seems to be draining the national exchequer by charging anywhere between 80 per cent and 150 per cent extra for tickets that 30.85 lakh Central government employees are supposed to avail as leave travel concession (LTC). According to government rules, it is mandatory for all Central government employees to use AI to avail LTC. The employees, who get LTC twice in four years, can choose to go by air, Railways, roadways or ship.

The AI website has a special section for LTC tickets. Bookings can also be done through authorised agents such as stateowned tourism and travel companies like Ashok Travel and Tours, Balmer and Lawrie and Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation.

Mail Today found that for a ticket booked on November 9 (Sunday) during evening hours for a Delhi-Hyderabad AI flight for December 14, normal oneway passenger fare was Rs.5,901, which was almost same as those offered by private airlines like Jet Airways, IndiGo and GoAir. However, AI's LTC fare was more than double the amount at Rs13,248 for the same trip.

Similarly, LTC fares for other domestic and international destinations on November 9, as Mail Today further discovered, were much higher than normal ones. As LTC bookings are the most lucrative segment for loss-making AI, over 20 seats on any domestic flight are reserved for such passengers.

When contacted, the AI spokesperson claimed that LTC fares are better than market fares. But the fares shown on the AI website accessed by Mail Today belie the claim. The spokesman further stated, "Central government employees also get the benefit of changing their travel schedule or cancelling tickets. The cost of cancelling tickets is very minimal compared to cancellation in case of normal fares. The cost of LTC ticket is more or less the same if you compare with private carriers," he claimed.

A senior government official told Mail Today that while the objective of travelling by AI seems to be to save money for the government, it actually ends up paying more for LTC. "The government is losing crores of rupees due to this overcharging by Air India," he added.

In June, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) in an order reminded all government employees to buy LTC tickets from AI. "As far as possible, air tickets on government account may be obtained directly from the Air India (booking counters, offices, websites) and if obtaining tickets directly from Air India is not possible, the services of authorised travel agents may be availed of," DoPT said in an order.

The DoPT order further stated that in several cases, it has been noticed that the instructions are not being followed and as a result, various ministries and departments continue to make references to DoPT seeking relaxation of the conditions for one reason or the other. DoPT is also cautious about fake bills presented by government employees.

Claim your travel allowance without showing boarding pass: DoPT Posted by: Preeti Panwar Published: Thursday, October 9, 2014, 15:40 [IST]

New Delhi, Oct 9: In a move that signifies the "acche din" for government officials, the government officials no longer will have to produce their boarding passes to claim the Leave Travel Allowance (LTA). On Tuesday, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) decided that officers who would like to claim to their LTAs can only produce an undertaking that they went for a journey without showing the original boarding passes along with TA claims.

The DoPT issued a circular saying, "It has been decided with the approval of the competent authority that in order to simplify the procedure of settlement of TA claims, the condition of submission of boarding pass along with settlement of TA claim is dispensed with... however, the officer concerned, preferring travelling allowance, will have to attach an undertaking along with TA claims that the journey, as mentioned therein, has actually been performed by him/her." The circular was issued by the Director (Administartion) Shri Prakash that said, "

in case of extreme doubt, the controlling officer may be asked to verify the genuineness of the claim." "Air tickets should be purchased only from the authorized travel agent of this Deptt. i.e. IVI/s Balmer Lawrie & Co. Ltd and at the cheapest rates after comparing the available fare from the websites of travel agents of repute. If cheaper rates are available directly from Air India, the same can also be bought", it further said. "The frequent flyer reward points from Air India may only be redeemed for the official tours of the Deptt", it added. OneIndia News

Government officers to leave behind a note for the successor

NEW DELHI: The department of personnel & training (DoPT) has directed all government officers to leave behind a "note for the successor" before they get transferred or demit office, so as to ensure that the knowledge of their respective work areas is not lost during employee transition.

According to DoPT, the incumbent's note can help the successor understand issues of critical importance in his area of responsibility, appreciate urgency of actionable points and recognize strengths and weaknesses of subordinates for suitable work allocation.

Emphasising the importance of knowledge continuity, the DoPT, in a note sent to all Central ministries and departments on September 26, told the competent authorities to impress upon officers to cultivate the habit of leaving behind a written note for their successor. This, it recalled, was in line with Prime Minister's Narendra Modi's call for reinstitutionalising this practice - which, of late, was becoming rare - during the personnel ministry's presentation to him on June 12.

"All employees have invaluable knowledge of their areas of responsibility...such innate knowledge is at the risk of getting lost when the incumbent leaves the seat - gets transferred or demits office.

"New employee will take time to understand issues of current importance, appreciate urgency of actionable points, recognize strengths and weaknesses of different subordinates for suitable work allocation, and comprehend critical issues by trial and error. This time spent in negotiating the way in new environment, spent in trial and error, may turn out to be the critical difference between success and failure of the unit, the department or even the organization," the DoPT note pointed out.

Insisting that knowledge continuity in wake of employee transition was a key challenge, especially where certain key posts mandate a fixed tenure, the personnel ministry said written notes for the successor were more effective than personal interactions and also helped build institutional memory.

Apart from asking all ministries and departments to re-institutionalise this practice of leaving a "note for the successor", the DoPT instructed Central training institutes to incorporate inputs on the note in their training programmes to sensitise officers towards "this important organisational responsibility".

On citizen’s proposal, Ministries post work timings on websites

Working hours, holiday list, hours of public interaction posted

Taking note of a retired Commodore’s suggestion for posting details relating to working hours on government websites, the Department of Personnel and Training has issued an order advising all the Ministries and departments to upload the information.

The decision came within four months of the proposal made by Commodore (retired) Lokesh K. Batra, a resident of Noida Sector 25.

The DoPT order dated November 5, 2014 states: “To make the general public and concerned stakeholders aware of the office timings in government offices, DoPT has posted this information on the homepage of its website www.versmin.nic.in.”

“The matter regarding posting/uploading of ‘Working hours’ etc. on the websites of Indian Government has been considered in this Department in order to provide information to the citizens staying/residing abroad who seek Indian Government websites,” said the order, advising all Ministries/departments to upload details pertaining to working hours, holidays list and public dealing hours.

“Democracy at its best, the government implemented by proposal,” said Commodore Batra.

His other pending proposals are regarding dedicated email IDs for RTI applications and RTI appeals by all the Central Public Authorities (presently the PMO and few other public authorities have done so); and extending e-IPO facilities beyond Centre to States for payment of RTI fee.

The Commodore had on July 4 written to Cabinet Secretariat Joint Secretary proposing that “the Cabinet Secretariat may please issue directions to all Ministries, departments and other public authorities of the Government of India to upload on the home page of their websites information regarding Working Hours, Holidays List and Public dealing hours”.

The proposal was forwarded to Secretary (Administrative Reforms &Public Grievances). Within four days, Commodore Batra received acknowledgment through SMS. Following a reminder on September 25, he also met the Secretary to explain that the information was essential for those living in different time zones for any communication they need to make.

Within days, the DoPT posted working hours on its website. “Earlier only Indian Missions/posts abroad were uploading working hours...,” he said, adding that the final order came on Wednesday.

Government servants reluctant to declare assets, DoPT backs them -

The NDA government’s move to amend the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 in the coming winter session of Parliament has run into rough weather following differences between various government departments over whether government servants and their family members should declare their assets, and whether such information should be made public or not. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) is learnt to have sided with the bureaucracy in challenging the contentious provision.

Under the law, public servants are required to declare their immovable property as well as movable assets like vehicles, cash in hand/bank, gold and other jewellery, investments in shares, bonds and mutual funds etc. They must also submit this information about their family members to the government.

Sources told The Sunday Express that differences on the issue came to the fore during a recent meeting held to finalise the proposed amendments to the Act. Since the differences remain unresolved, the matter is being referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a final decision. The Prime Minister is also in charge of the Ministry of Personnel, which is the administrative ministry for all affairs concerning the proposed anti-corruption ombudsman.

After various associations of civil servants, including the IAS and IPS, sent representations seeking amendment to the provision relating to declaration of assets, arguing that the security of their family members could be compromised if such details are made public, the government had earlier extended the deadline for filing the declarations till December 31.

While sources privy to the discussions said the DoPT is supporting the bureaucracy, some other departments are of the view that if the demand of the civil servants is accepted, elected political representatives could also raise similar demands.

During discussions within the government, three options were laid out but no final decision was taken. The options are:

* Details of only immovable assets of public servants should be made public. Details of the officer’s movable assets as well as the assets of his/ her spouse and children should be kept in a sealed cover, to be opened only during investigations/ official proceedings against the officer.

* All details of assets — movable and immovable — should be kept in a sealed cover.

* It should be mandatory for government officials to declare their assets, but not that of their family members.

The Law Ministry, it is learnt, has suggested that rather than amending the relevant provision of the Act to deal with the issue, suitable changes should be incorporated in the relevant rules to achieve the purpose.

However, a strong section within the government feels that any move to water down the provision could send a “wrong” signal about the intentions of the government, especially since it rode to power on a strong anti-corruption plank.

A petition filed by the wife of a government officer is also pending in the Delhi High Court. The petitioner, who is employed in an IT company, has challenged the constitutionality of the provision, contending it is continued…

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Wife of Government Employee has the right to know the salary of Husband under RTI – Applicable to Husband of Government Employee also – Central Information Commission (CIC)

Wives of government servants have a “right” to know salary particulars of their husbands and these details should also be made public by their offices as mandated under suo-moto disclosure clause of the RTI Act, the Central information Commission has held.

Information Commissioner M Sridhar Acharyulu said every spouse has a right to information about the salary particulars of the other especially for the purpose of maintenance.

“More so, wife has a right to know the salary particulars of the husband, who is an employee of the public authority,” he said.

The commissioner further said that the details about a government employee’s salary is nothird party information and these have to be voluntarily disclosed under Section 4(1)(b)(x) of the RTI Act.

He said the salary paid to the public authority is sourced from the tax paid by the people in general and it has to be disclosed mandatorily under the RTI section.

“The information about the salary of employee or an officer of the same public authoritycannot be considered as a third party information… Public authorities cannot reject such RTIapplications about salary under the pretext of the third party information,” he held.

Acharyulu warned the Home Department of Delhi government that such denial of information will be wrongful and could incur penalty. The warning was in context of an application filed by Jyoti Seherawat seeking salary slip of her husband who is employed at the Home (General) department.

The information was denied as her husband gave in written to the department that such an information should not be provided to anyone.

Source : PTI

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