7th CPC Transport Allowance
Transport
Allowance (TPTA) is granted to cover the expenditure involved in
commuting between place of residence and place of duty. The existing
rates are as under:
Moreover,
officers drawing GP 10000 and higher, who are entitled to the use of
official car, have the option to avail themselves of the existing
facility or to draw the TPTA at the rate of Rs.7,000+DA pm. Differently
abled employees are granted this allowance at double the rate, subject
to a minimum amount of Rs.1,000 plus DA.
Many representations have
been received regarding Transport Allowance. Most of them advocate
granting the allowance at the same rate to all employees, irrespective
of their place of posting, on the grounds that fuel prices affect
everybody equally.
Analysis and Recommendations :
The Commission notes that TPTA is fully DA-indexed. The first issue to
be considered is whether the rate of Transport Allowance should be the
same for all places. There are arguments both for and against this view.
Proponents
of the idea argue that petrol prices are almost same everywhere.
Moreover, public transport system is better developed in many of the
A1/A Class cities, thereby reducing the cost of commuting significantly.
The argument, therefore, is that A1/A category places do not need to
have a higher rate.
Opponents point out that the categorization of
A1/A has been abolished for other purposes (like HRA, CCA) but retained
for Transport Allowance. Incidentally, only 13 cities fall under this
categorization: six in A1, viz., Hyderabad, Delhi, Bengaluru, Greater
Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and seven in A, viz., Ahmedabad, Surat, Nagpur,
Pune, Jaipur, Lucknow and Kanpur. Recently, six more cities, viz.,
Patna, Kochi, Kozhikode, Indore, Coimbatore and Ghaziabad have been
added to A1/A categories, making it nineteen in all. (Incidentally, vide
a recent notification No. 21(2)/2015-E.II(B) dated 06.08.2015, the use
of term 'A1/A' has been dropped for these nineteen cities. Hence, the
Commission will refer to these nineteen cities as Higher TPTA cities.).
In all these places the commuting distances are far more than in other
cities. Moreover, the public transport system is not as developed as it
should be in all these places. Therefore, it is argued, the distinction
should remain.
After considering both the viewpoints, the
Commission is of the view that by and large the commuting distances and
associated difficulties involved in Higher TPTA cities are much more
compared to other places. Hence, the argument that the distinction
should stay is a valid one.
The second issue is whether Transport
Allowance should be the same for all personnel posted at the same place.
Here the Commission feels that a question of status of employee is
involved and hence, complete parity is not possible.
Regarding the
optimal rate of Transport Allowance, the Commission notes that the
allowance is already fully DA indexed. Therefore, since DA has already
reached 119 percent and is likely to rise further before the
implementation of our report, the following rates of Transport Allowance
are recommended:
Officers
in Pay Level 14 and higher, who are entitled to the use of official
car, will ave the option to avail themselves of the existing facility or
to draw the TPTA at the rate of Rs.15,750+DA pm. Differently abled
employees will continue to be paid at double rate, subject to a minimum
of Rs.2,250 plus DA.
JCM Staff Side suggestion on Transport Allowance :
The 5th CPC had introduced transport allowance for employees working in
classified towns on account of various factors like unprecedented
growth of city limits, increase in volume of traffic and non
availability of residential accommodation at reasonable rents near
offices, which are usually located in the heart of cities. If these were
the factors it appears that the 5th CPC did not take into account that
it is usually a low paid employee who finds residence at a very long
distance from his office whereas officers are offered residences very
near to their offices. If, therefore, transport allowance was meant to
defray the transportation charges from residence to office and back the
higher rates should have been recommended for the low paid employees who
were residing at a distant places. Since the 6th CPC?s recommendation
in this regard was implemented, there had been several rounds of
increase in the fuel charges making a cascading impact on the public
transport fares.
Taking these factors into account, we suggest that the following rates of transport allowance
may please be recommended.
At
first glance, both transport allowance and travelling allowance might
look the same. But, the two are very different for Central Government
employees. Recent spate of orders issued by the DOPT and Finance
Ministry on TRAVELLING ALLOWANCE was the inspiration behind this
write-up.
| Pay Range | X classified city | Y classified
towns. |
| Pay upto Rs. 75,000 | Rs. 7500 + DA | Rs. 3750 +DA |
| Above Rs. 75,000 | Rs. 6500 +DA | Rs. 3500+ DA |
Transport Allowance and Travelling Allowance Rules at a glance
In
its order last week, the DOPT said that senior officers who have to
travel by air for official purposes may not have to submit the boarding
passes while settlement of TA claims. They will have to henceforth
submit the passes only when required. The very next day, the Finance
Ministry issued an order that made it mandatory for senior officials to
submit boarding passes alongwith TA bills for air journey performed on
Government account.
The concept of Transport Allowance was
introduced by the 5th CPC to defray the cost of commuting between
residence and office. The 6th CPC while recommending CCA to be subsumed
in Transport Allowance. Transport Allowance is given to the Central
Government employees for their everyday commute to and from the
workplace. Based on their Grade Pay or Band Pay, this could be anything
between Rs. 400 to Rs. 3200 per month. It also depends on the population
of the city or town where the office is located. Transport allowance is
twice the normal amount for physically challenged employees.
Travelling
allowance is given to employees who have to travel out of station for
official work. There are a number of rules, guidelines and restrictions
that control travelling allowance. DOPT and the Ministry of Finance
issues amendment orders related to travelling allowances from time to
time.
Travelling allowance differs based on the employee's grade
pay. The ‘Grade Pay’ for determining the TA/DA entitlement is as
indicated in Central Civil Service(RP)Rules 2008. Depending on the grade
pay, the employee has to opt for the appropriate class of accommodation
while travelling via bus, train, ship or by aeroplane. The employee can
refund only that amount that he is entitlement for. The Finance
Ministry order published on 23.9.2008, OM explained the details of the
Travelling allowance and entitlements for Government officials as per
title given below:
Government officials on Tour : Travelling
Allowance and Entitlements, Entitlement for journeys on tour and travel
entitlements within the country, International Travel Entitlement,
Mileage allowance for journeys by road, Daily Allowance, Travelling
allowance on Transfer, Transfer Grant and Packing Allowance,
Transportation of Personal Effects, Transportation of Conveyance,
Travelling allowance Entitlement of Retiring employees, Lumpsum Transfer
Grant and Packing Allowance
Daily Allowance : If the official
tour on is of longer duration, then the employee is paid Daily Allowance
to meet his boarding and lodging expenses. This too depends on the
Grade pay of the employee. This is what is known as TA/DA. While seeking
the TA/DA claims, the employee has to present receipts and bills.
In
this regard, the notification, that senior officials are not required
to submit the boarding passes while seeking settlement of TA claims of
their air travel expenses, was confusing.
The order is not
applicable to Group C employees. But some have misunderstood the order
and have assumed that it was for the air travel facility that is
available as part of the Leave Travel Concession.
