Classification of Leave- Kerala Service Rules

IX.    Leave

     Leave means permitted absence from duty.

A.    General conditions:

1. The Government are the Sanctioning Authorities for the grant of Leave Without Allowance exceeding 4 months at a time, LWA for study purpose (R.110 C-app. B), LWA to take up other employment (R. 110B-App.XII A) and LWA for joining spouse (R.110D-App.XII C).  All other kinds of leave are sanctioned by the competent departmental authorities. R.64.
2. Leave cannot be claimed as a right.  In exigencies of service, the sanctioning authority may at his discretion, refuse or revoke the leave of any description. R.65.
3. The nature of the leave due and applied for by an officer cannot be altered at the option of the sanctioning authority.  Note under R.65
4. Holidays and restricted holidays can be prefixed or suffixed to leave. R 68 read with Note 1 below it.
5. An officer when entered on leave on MC may be allowed to join duty after producing Medical Certificate of fitness.  Note 2 to R 68.
6. Any kind of leave other than LWA under App. XII A, XII B, and XII C may be combined with.
7. Vacation may be availed in combination with or in continuation of any kind of leave R.74.
8. The maximum amount of leave, in combination or otherwise, granted at a time shall not exceed 5 years.R.24
9. LWA under App XII A and XII C shall not be granted exceeding 5 years at a time.  On expiry of that, further extension may be considered.R.24 A
10. Any kind of leave, except EL, can be commuted into any other kind of leave (R.76 & 89).  EL sanctioned to join spouse can be retrospectively commuted into LWA under App.XII.C
11. An officer on leave may not return to duty before the expiry of leave unless he is permitted to do so .R.72
12. An officer on leave should intimate sufficiently early his intention of joining duty after the leave, enabling to issue posting orders in time. R.124.

     Classification of Leave

    Leave is classified into ordinary leave and special leave.

1. Ordinary leave:  This is the leave earned by a Government servant in proportion to his/her duty or service. A leave account is maintained. Every leave except LWA availed shall be debited against the leave at credit.

         Earned Leave, Half Pay Leave, Commuted Leave, Leave Not Due and Leave
         Without Allowance are coming under this category.

2. Special leave:  This is the leave granted to a particular person in a special circumstance.  No leave account is necessary. Disability leave, Maternity leave, Hospital leave and Child Adoption Leave are the four types of special leave.

C.Five kinds of ordinary leave

1. Earned Leave: 

        All permanent employees are earning EL at the rate of one day for every eleven days on duty. Non-permanent employees are earning this leave at the rate of one day for every 22 days on duty for the first year and after that @ 1/11. When the person is confirmed in that cadre, the EL calculated @ 1/22 will be regularized @ 1/11. From 27/2/2007 all non permanent employees who have completed 3 years' continuous service are eligible to recalculate their EL @ 1/11 for the first year.

The maximum amount of EL that can be at credit at a time shall not be in excess of 300 days w.e.f. 01-11-1998. The maximum amount of EL that can be granted at a time shall not be in excess of 180 days. But, in the case of leave preparatory to retirement, it can be granted upto 300 days. During a financial year 30 days EL can be surrendered in a block for leave salary. For terminal surrender it will be upto 300 days.

EL Salary:

Full pay, if the person had been on duty+Dearness Allowance to that pay +

        compensatory allowances as admissible (No HRA if occupying Government Quarters)+special pay as admissible. If promoted during EL, monetary benefit of promotion shall be granted only from the date on which charge is assumed. (See Rules 92&93)

2. Earned leave for those persons enjoying vacations. R.80, 81, & 86.

     i) Those persons who are eligible for regular vacations are not eligible for EL, if they are enjoying full vacation. But, if they are prevented from enjoying vacation in full they will earn EL under formula n/v X 30, where ‘n’ represents the number of days prevented from enjoying and ‘v’ total period of vacation.

(ii) If in any year (actual duty period of 12 months and not calendar year) an employee is not enjoying the vacation, EL is earned for that year @ 1/11.

(iii) Teaching staff attending valuation and tabulation work of SSLC and HSC Public examinations during vacation shall be considered to have been prevented from enjoying full vacation and they earn EL at proportionate rate as per R 81.

(iv) The EL admissible to an officer in permanent employee in the vacation department, who is prevented from availing himself of vacation in full and whose actual period of duty is less than one year due to superannuation, shall be calculated in such a proportion applying the formula N x 30 x Days of actual duty V 365/366

(G.O.(P) No. 75/2010/Fin. dated 18-02-2010)

3. Half pay leave 

          This leave is earned at 20 days for each completed year of service. HPL is granted either on private affairs or on Medical Certificate. Completed year of service includes periods spent on duty, periods of leave including LWA on MC, periods of suspension treated as duty / leave other than LWA and dies-non. (LWA availed for other employment under APP. XII A, LWA for joining spouse under APP.XII C, LWA for study purpose under APP. XII B and LWA specially ordered not to count for service benefits, are not earning HPL). HPL is not earned for fraction of a year. It is granted without any limit.

Half Pay Leave Salary. R.93

Leave salary will be equal to half of the pay, the officer would get, had he been on duty during the period of leave. It includes an increment that falls due during the period of HPL.

When an officer is promoted during the HPL, the monetary benefit of promotion shall be granted only from the date on which he assumes charge of the post, if there is change of duties.

Dearness Allowances during HPL will be based on leave salary actually drawn. But, in the case of NGOs whose pay before proceeding on leave does not exceed Rs. 10,790 w.e.f. 01-04-2005 in the revised scale of pay, the DA will be what would have been admissible to him had he performed duty; ie, full DA. In such cases leave salary and DA shall not be less than 65% of the amount of pay and DA while on duty.

4. Commuted Leave. 

This is a conversion of HPL into full pay leave. Twice the amount of HPL will be debited for each commuted leave. All permanent employees and those who have completed three years of continuous service are eligible for this leave. No MC is necessary for the grant of this leave from 23-12-1982.

Leave Salary will be twice the amount of pay admissible on HPL and DA to that amount.R.94.

5.Leave Not Due 

This is HPL granted in advance. Only permanent employees are eligible to avail this leave. This is granted only when no other leave is at credit and the Leave Sanctioning Authority is satisfied that there is reasonable prospect of the employee returning to duty on the expiry of the leave and earning an equal amount of HPL thereafter for adjusting the leave granted. During the entire service the maximum amount of LND should not exceed 360 days out of which 180 days may be granted without MC and it should not exceed 90 days at a time. The remaining 180 days should be on medical certificate.

6.Leave Without Allowance/ Extraordinary Leave

This leave is granted to an officer in regular employment, when there is no other leave at credit or there is leave at credit, but applies for LWA. Non-permanent employees with less than 3 years service are eligible to LWA upto 3 months at a time. This is granted on MC or otherwise. This is also granted:

i. for regularizing the period of suspension. R 88(ii)

ii.for treatment of TB, Cancer or mental disease. R. 90.

iii.for obtaining superior qualification. 91

iv.for taking up other employment APP.XIIA or for joining with spouse under App. XII C

v.for study purpose-APP XII B

Period of LWA exceeding 4 months requires sanction of the Government. R 64.

(LWA taken by teachers for the completion of training courses such as B.Ed, Hindi Teacher’s Training, LTT and TTC shall not be reckoned as qualifying service). LWA under Rule 88 otherwise than on MC, ie. Private/ personal/ domestic and for regularizing the unauthorized absence / suspension will not to be reckoned for granting increment, higher grade, pension or for accumulation of EL. (Govt. Circular No. 72/2005 / Fin dated 30/12/2005.

* 7. Extraordinary Leave : 

Ordinary leave is the leave that earned in proportion to duty or service. But, LWA which is included in the category of ordinary leave, is not earned.Therefore, this is otherwise termed as Extraordinary leave.

D. Five Kinds of Special Leave

1. Disability Leave.R. 97

This leave is granted to an officer who is disabled by injury intentionally inflicted or caused in or in consequence of due performance of his official duties or in consequence of his official position. It shall not be granted unless the disability manifests itself within three months of the occurrence to which it is attributed and the person disabled acts with due promptitude in bringing it to the notice of the sanctioning authority with the support of MC.

The Maximum period is 12 months in ordinary course and 24 months in special circumstance for one disability.

This can be combined with other kind of leave.

Leave Salary: For the first four months at the rate of EL salary and for the remaining period at the rate of salary for HPL. R. 104.

From 1-04-2009 this leave is granted to female Government Servants on full pay for amaximum period of 180 days R.100.Female recruits through PSC who join duty within 180 days from their date of delivery(other than on account of miscarriage) shall, on joining, be granted from the next day thebalance of M/L admissible as on the date of joining duty subject to the following conditions.(a) Holidays/Vacation falling immediately after the date of joining service cannot beprefixed to the leave.(b) A certificate from the medical officer who attended the delivery showing the dateof delivery along with medical certificate of health as prescribed in Rule 13 Part IKSRs should be produced.This is also granted in the case of miscarriage including abortion for a period not exceedingsix weeks and for hystrectomy (uterus removal) for 45 days. R. 101.This leave can be combined with any other kind of leave and MC is not necessary for suchleave not exceeding 60 days in continuation. LWA without MC upto 60 days will be countedfor granting increment. R. 102. Leave salary as admissible for EL under R.92.

2. Maternity Leave 
From 1-04-2009 this leave is granted to female Government Servants on full pay for a maximum period of 180 days R.100.
Female recruits through PSC who join duty within 180 days from their date of delivery (other than on account of miscarriage) shall, on joining, be granted from the next day the balance of M/L admissible as on the date of joining duty subject to the following conditions.
(a) Holidays/Vacation falling immediately after the date of joining service cannot be prefixed to the leave.
(b) A certificate from the medical officer who attended the delivery showing the date of delivery along with medical certificate of health as prescribed in Rule 13 Part I KSRs should be produced.
This is also granted in the case of miscarriage including abortion for a period not exceeding six weeks and for hystrectomy (uterus removal) for 45 days. R. 101.
This leave can be combined with any other kind of leave and MC is not necessary for such leave not exceeding 60 days in continuation. LWA without MC upto 60 days will be counted for granting increment. R. 102. Leave salary as admissible for EL under R.92.

3. Child Adoption Leave 
Adoptive mothers with less than 2 surviving children are eligible for 180 days leave similarto maternity leave from the date of legal adoption of a child upto one year of age till thechild reaches one year of age. Any other eligible leave can be combined with this leavesimilar to the case of maternity leave. Benefits are similar to that of maternity leave. LWAfor 60 days in continuation can be sanctioned without MC similar to maternity leave. Incontinuation other leave can also be granted with the support of medical certificate ifdeemed necessary to look after the adopted child.

4. Paternity Leave : 

G.O.(P) No.85/11/Fin dated 26.2.11. Paternity Leave for 10 dayseach for two children will be sanctioned to serving male employees at the time of deliveryof their wives.
5.Hospital Leave

This leave is granted to the categories of Government Servants specified under the rule while under medical treatment for illness or injury, if such illness or injury is directly due to risks incurred in the course of their official duties.
This is granted for treatment either at hospital or at home.
The duration will be as suggested by the attending Medical Officer.
Leave salary as for Disability leave. (R 104)