IREC Rule No.1605: Permanent Or Consolidated Travelling Allowance (CTA)
1605. Permanent or consolidated traveling allowance (CTA):-
(1) A permanent traveling allowance monthly may be granted by the Ministry of Railways to any railway servant whose duties require him to travel extensively. Except as provided in sub-rules (3) and (5), such an allowance shall be in lieu of all other forms of traveling allowance for journey within the railway servant’s sphere of duty and may be drawn all the year round whether the railway servant is absent from his headquarters or not. For journeys by rail on the open line, a railway servant in receipt of permanent traveling allowance shall be granted passes under the Railway Servants (Pass) Rules, 1986.
(2) The General Manager of an Indian Railway may also sanction a permanent traveling allowance to a railway servant, subject to the following conditions;
(a) No such allowance shall be granted unless the railway servant has to be absent from his headquarters on duty for more than 20 days in a month on the average.
(b) The allowance must be so fixed as not to be a source of profit and shall be so calculated as to be equivalent ultimately to the traveling allowance admissible under the rules if no permanent travelling allowance were granted.
(c) Adequate arrangements shall be made by the Head of the Department or the immediate superior of the person drawing the allowance to see that the necessary amount of touring is performed.
(3) A permanent traveling allowance shall not be drawn during leave, temporary transfer, or joining time or, unless otherwise expressly provided in the rules in this chapter, during any period for which traveling allowance of any other kind is drawn.
(4) When a railway servant holds either substantively or in an officiating capacity, two or more posts to each of which such permanent traveling allowance is attached, he may be granted such permanent traveling allowance, not exceeding the total of all the allowances, as the competent authority may consider to be necessary in order to cover the traveling expenses which he has to incur.
Railway Ministry’s Decisions:
(1) No deduction shall be made from the amount of consolidated traveling allowance for the days of casual leave an employee avails of in a month. However, the possible spell of casual leave an employee is likely to avail of in a month shall be taken into account while fixing the quantum of consolidated permanent traveling allowance.
(2) In cases, where the staff goes on tour on the basis of a roster, the amount of CTA, in such cases should be fixed on the basis of the number of days an employee is likely to be out of headquarters on tour as per the roster.
(3) When a railway servant in receipt of permanent traveling allowance travels on duty by Road, Steamer or Air with proper sanction beyond his sphere of duty, he may draw appropriate Traveling allowance for the entire journey, including such part of it as within his sphere of duty and may draw in addition permanent traveling allowance for any day of his absence for which he does not draw traveling allowance. This rule does not apply to a railway servant who travels beyond his sphere of duty in the course of a journey from one place within that sphere to another such place, or to a railway servant who makes, by road alone, a journey not exceeding 32 kms.