No booking of air tickets through private agents - Government tells babus
DOPT reminds all the Ministries/Departments of Government of India that the Government employees are required to book their air tickets directly from the airlines (Booking counters, websites of airlines) or by utilizing the service of Authorized Travel Agents viz. Balmer Lawrie & Company, Ashok Travels and Tours and ‘IRCTC' while undertaking LTC journey(s).
In a number of cases, it has been noticed that instructions are not being followed and as a result various Ministries/ Departments continue to make references to DoPT seeking relaxation of the conditions for one reason or the other. The most common reason given by the employees is unawareness of the rules and non-availability of Authorized Travel Agents at places where the tickets have been booked from.
DoPT clarifies that even in such cases, the option of booking directly from the airlines through their website is available. In no case is the booking of tickets through any other agency is permissible.