A Railway Ministry spokesperson clarified that a personal IRCTC account cannot be used for commercial ticketing purposes, which is a punishable offence under the Railways Act, 1989.
IRCTC Account: The Indian Railways Tuesday termed as “false and misleading” a viral social media rumor which claimed that an IRCTC account holder cannot book e-tickets for other people who have a different surname. In a statement, a Railway Ministry spokesperson busted this myth, stating that anyone who has an IRCTC account can book e-tickets for others, regardless of their surname.
“The news in circulation on social media about restriction in booking of e-tickets due to different surname is false and misleading,” the spokesperson said while responding to posts on X which claimed that IRCTC account holders cannot book tickets from their account for friends, family, etc, having different surnames.
The ministry spokesperson clarified that tickets are booked on the IRCTC website in accordance with Railway Board guidelines and all information regarding these guidelines is available in the public domain.
What Indian Railways says?
As per Indian Railways, anyone with an IRCTC account can book tickets for friends, family, relatives, etc, regardless of their surnames, location, etc. However, the IRCTC account cannot be used commercial purposes.
The regular account holder can book up to 12 tickets from his/her account in a month, while a person with an Aadhaar- authenticated IRCTC account can book up to 24 tickets per month, however, at least one of the travellers on each ticket must also be Aadhar-authenticated.
The ministry spokesperson also clarified that a personal IRCTC account cannot be used for commercial ticketing purposes, which is a punishable offence under the Railways Act, 1989
“Tickets booked on personal user IDs are not meant for commercial sale and such an act is an offence under section 143 of Railways Act, 1989,” he said.
(With PTI inputs)