Government employees cannot avail Leave Travel Concession for foreign trips: Apex Court

LTC can be claimed only for travel within India as the very purpose of this provision is to familiarise employees with Indian culture

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court last week held that government employees cannot claim the Leave Travel Concession (LTC) for their foreign travel or for a long circuitous trip [State Bank of India vs Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax].

A bench of Chief Justice UU Lalit and Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Sudhanshu Dhulia said that the LTC is a payment to an employee which is exempted as ‘income’ and hence cannot be brought under any tax, however, it should be claimed within the framework of law, the Bar and Bench reported. “The LTC has to be availed by an employee within certain limitations, prescribed by the law. Firstly, the travel must be done from one designated place in India to another designated place within India. In other words, LTC is not for a foreign travel. Secondly, it is given for the shortest route between these two places,” the judges observed in the order pronounced on November 4.