In short. Child care leave lets a woman central government employee, or a single father, take up to 730 days in all to look after a child, with full pay for the first year of it. It is not an absolute right, but an office cannot refuse it on a whim: it needs a real reason tied to work. If your CCL was refused, sanctioned in part or cut short, a reasoned representation often reverses it within weeks. If the office will not budge, CAT can examine the refusal. Start by getting the refusal in writing.
Is this your situation?
- You applied for child care leave for your child's board exams and were told CCL is only for illness.
- Your controlling officer refused CCL citing shortage of staff, though others in the section got leave.
- You are a widower, divorcee or unmarried father and the office says CCL is only for women.
- Your child has a disability and is over 18, and the office says the child is too old.
- You were recalled from CCL halfway, or only part of the days you asked for were sanctioned.
- Your CCL was refused because you are still on probation.
- The office counted weekends and holidays inside your CCL against your balance and you want to know if that is right.
What Rule 43-C gives you, in plain terms
- Who. Women government servants, and single male government servants, which means a father who is unmarried, a widower or divorced.
- For whom. The two eldest surviving children. The child must be below 18, except a child with a disability of at least 40 per cent, for whom there is no upper age limit.
- How much. Up to 730 days in the whole of your service, for rearing or for any need of the child, such as studies, examinations or illness.
- Pay. Full leave salary for the first 365 days of CCL availed, and 80 per cent of it for the next 365 days.
- How often. Not more than three spells in a calendar year, or six for a single woman. Each spell must be at least five days. Since a DoPT order of 29 July 2024, the leave sanctioning authority can allow up to three more spells in a year when the child is admitted to hospital as an inpatient.
- How it is treated. Like earned leave. It is not debited to your earned leave account, it counts as service, and weekends and holidays falling inside a spell count as part of the leave, just as they do for earned leave.
- The condition. It cannot be demanded as a right, and you cannot proceed on it without prior sanction.
Not a right, but not a favour either
Offices often quote the line that CCL cannot be claimed as a matter of right and stop there. That line is in the rule, but it does not mean the office can refuse for any reason or no reason. It means the leave sanctioning authority balances your need against the work of the office, and it must actually do that balancing. A refusal that says only 'not approved' shows no balancing at all.
The Supreme Court has been clear about the purpose. In Kakali Ghosh v. Chief Secretary, Andaman and Nicobar Administration (2014) it held that CCL of up to 730 days can be taken for a child's needs, including examinations, and is not confined to illness. In Shalini Dharmani v. State of Himachal Pradesh (2024), a case about a state employee whose son has a genetic disorder, the Court treated child care leave as linked to women's equal participation in work and asked the state to revisit its policy for mothers of children with disabilities. That case concerned a state government, but the reasoning is regularly placed before CAT.
So the honest position is this: your office has a discretion, the discretion must be used for a reason connected with work, and a refusal that ignores your child's actual need, or treats CCL as a nuisance, is open to challenge.
Reasons offices give, and how they hold up
| Reason in the refusal | Does it stand? | What to say in reply |
|---|---|---|
| CCL is only for a sick child | No. Kakali Ghosh covers studies and exams | Quote the rule's words 'any of their needs' and the judgment |
| Shortage of staff in the section | Can stand, if real and recorded for that period | Ask whether others got leave; offer to shift dates or shorten the spell |
| Child is above 18 | Only if the child has no disability of 40 per cent or more | Attach the disability certificate; there is no age limit for such a child |
| You are a man, so not eligible | No, if you are a single father | Attach proof of being unmarried, widowed or divorced |
| You are on probation | Partly. CCL during probation is allowed only in limited cases and for short periods | Explain why the need cannot wait and ask for the minimum period |
| You have used three spells this year | Yes, unless you are a single woman or the child is hospitalised | Claim the six-spell limit or the July 2024 relaxation, with hospital papers |
| Application not in time or not through channel | Weak if the need was sudden | Show when the need arose and when you applied |
Rules and orders to quote
Rule 43-C, CCS (Leave) Rules, 1972
The rule itself, inserted after the Sixth Pay Commission and amended several times since, sets out eligibility, the 730-day limit, the two eldest children, the age limit and the disability exception, and the spell limits. Read the current text from the DoPT website rather than an old office copy, because the 2018 amendments changed who can apply, the minimum spell and the age rule for children with disabilities.
DoPT OM of 29 July 2024
This order lets the leave sanctioning authority allow up to three extra spells in a calendar year, beyond the usual three, where the child is admitted to hospital as an inpatient. It was issued after consultation with the Department of Expenditure and the staff side of the National Council (JCM). If your fourth spell in a year was refused while your child was hospitalised, this is the order to cite.
Rule 7, CCS (Leave) Rules, 1972
Rule 7 applies to all leave, including CCL. It permits refusal or revocation when the exigencies of public service require. It is the source of the office's power to recall you, and also the limit on it: the reason has to be the needs of the service, not irritation at your absence.
Article 15(3) and Article 14, Constitution of India
Article 15(3) allows special provision for women and children, which is the constitutional footing for CCL. Article 14 is what you rely on when the office grants CCL to one employee and refuses another in the same position without a reason.
Cut short: recall and partial sanction
An office can revoke leave already granted, including CCL, if the needs of the service truly require it. That should be rare and in writing. If you are recalled, ask for the order, and ask whether the recall is compulsory. Where it is, the journey back is treated as duty and travelling allowance is payable. The unused days of CCL go back to your balance; they are not lost.
Partial sanction is more common than a full refusal. You ask for sixty days during your child's board exams, and the office sanctions twenty. That can be a fair compromise, or it can be a way of refusing without saying so. If twenty days do not cover the exam schedule, write back with the date sheet and ask for the period that the exams actually need.
A third pattern is quieter. The office sanctions CCL but later treats part of it as EOL or dies non because a form was missing. Child care leave is to be treated like earned leave. If the office has re-labelled sanctioned CCL, our page on leave treated as dies non or EOL explains how to get the entry corrected.
CCL can also be combined with earned leave, half pay leave or other leave due, which helps when the spell limit is the problem. If the office has refused a further spell of CCL, ask instead for earned leave joined to the next permitted spell. The office cannot insist that you take EOL when other paid leave is at your credit.
What a strong CCL application looks like
Most refusals we see began with a thin application: a one-line request for leave 'for child care' with no dates explained and nothing attached. The leave sanctioning authority then has nothing to weigh against the office's needs and takes the easy route. A better application takes ten minutes more and changes the answer more often than any legal argument.
State the child's name and age, the specific need, and why it falls on these dates. Attach the proof: the date sheet, the hospital advice, the therapy schedule. Say how many days of CCL you have already taken and how many spells this year, so the office does not have to search. Then add a short handover note naming the files or duties that need cover and who can handle them. That last part answers the 'shortage of staff' objection before it is raised.
Teachers in Kendriya and Navodaya Vidyalayas face an added hurdle because leave in the middle of a session affects classes; a request that suggests how the syllabus will be covered stands a better chance. Their wider service issues are covered on our page for KVS and NVS teachers.
Responding to a refusal, step by step
Get the refusal in writing
A verbal 'not possible right now' from the section officer is not a decision. Ask, by email if need be, for the decision of the leave sanctioning authority on your application, with reasons.
Check your own eligibility on paper
Count your CCL already availed, the spells this calendar year, and the child's age and disability status. Keep the service book entries of earlier CCL ready.
Offer something workable
If the stated reason is work, propose alternatives: different dates, a shorter first spell, handing over specific files. A refusal of a reasonable offer looks very different to a tribunal.
Send one clear representation
Address the next higher authority through proper channel. Quote Rule 43-C, attach the child's documents, answer the reason given, and ask for a decision by a stated date because the need is time bound.
Escalate quickly where the need is urgent
Exams and hospital stays do not wait six months. If the need is close, take advice about approaching CAT with a request for an interim direction, explaining why waiting would defeat the purpose of the leave.
Do not proceed without sanction
However unfair the refusal, going on leave without sanction gives the office a misconduct case. Fight the refusal; do not walk out.
A made-up case: a single father in the postal department in Guwahati
Here's a made-up example. Bikash, a postal assistant in a head post office in Guwahati, lost his wife in 2023. His daughter, then twelve, needed surgery and three weeks of care at home in early 2025. He applied for twenty five days of CCL. The postmaster's reply said CCL is for female employees and suggested earned leave instead.
Bikash had only eighteen days of earned leave. He sent a short representation to the Senior Superintendent of Post Offices, attaching his wife's death certificate, the surgery advice and the text of Rule 43-C showing that a widower is a single male government servant. He asked for a decision within a week because the surgery date was fixed.
In this illustration the divisional head sanctioned the leave within days, and the postmaster's earlier refusal was withdrawn. Had the reply been a second refusal, Bikash's next step would have been an Original Application before the Guwahati Bench of CAT with a request for an urgent interim direction, but most refusals based on a plain misreading of eligibility are corrected at the divisional level once the rule is put in front of the right officer.
Documents to attach
About the child
- Birth certificate showing the date of birth
- Disability certificate under the RPwD Act, if the child is 18 or older
- Hospital advice, admission record or discharge summary for a medical need
- Examination date sheet or school letter for an exam-related need
About you
- Service book extract showing CCL already availed and spells this calendar year
- For single fathers: death certificate, divorce decree, or a declaration of being unmarried, as applicable
- Your original application with diary number or email trail
- The refusal or recall order
For an unequal treatment point
- Leave orders of colleagues in the same section for the same period, obtained under RTI if needed
- Any office circular placing a blanket ban on leave during a period
Single fathers: the most common misunderstanding
Since the 2018 amendment, a single male government servant is eligible for CCL on the same footing as women, subject to the same conditions. Many offices still have old checklists that say 'female employees only'. The fix is usually just documentary: show that you are a widower, divorced or unmarried with a child in your care.
A married father whose wife is alive is not eligible, even if she is not employed and even if he is the one doing most of the caring. That is a limit in the rule, not a matter of discretion, and a tribunal is unlikely to read it away. If that is your situation, the answer lies in earned leave, half pay leave, or a request under the medical-ground transfer guidelines rather than CCL. Our page on transfer on medical grounds or for a disabled child covers that route.
Children with disabilities
For a child with a disability of 40 per cent or more, there is no upper age limit for CCL. Offices that still apply an old age cap of 22 years are working from a superseded version of the rule. Attach a valid disability certificate, preferably the UDID card or a certificate from the competent medical authority under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.
Parents of children with disabilities often need leave in many short spells for therapy, surgery and follow-up. The spell limit can then become the real obstacle. Where the child is admitted to hospital, the July 2024 relaxation helps. Where the need is outpatient therapy, ask the office to consider longer spells planned around the therapy calendar instead. The guide on RPwD Act rights at work explains related protections on posting that often help such parents more than leave does.
Probationers and new joiners
DoPT instructions say CCL should not ordinarily be granted during probation, except in situations where the leave sanctioning authority is satisfied about the need, and then only for a minimal period. A probationer whose child falls seriously ill is precisely that situation. Ask for the shortest period that will meet the need and explain why no other leave will do.
Keep in mind that a long absence during probation can lead to probation being extended. If that happens, the extension should not be used as a disguised penalty for having taken leave you were allowed. The guide on probation extended again and again sets out when confirmation becomes due.
Checking your CCL account and the 80 per cent stage
CCL is tracked in a separate account in your service book, apart from earned leave and half pay leave. Errors creep in when an office debits CCL days to earned leave, or earned leave days to CCL, or forgets to restore days after a recall. Because the pay drops to 80 per cent once you cross 365 days, a wrong debit can also cut your salary earlier than it should.
Ask the establishment section for a statement of every spell of CCL you have taken since joining, with the dates and the number of days. Compare it with your own records and pay slips. If you were transferred between offices, check that the earlier office's entries were carried over correctly, because a missing entry in the new office's records works for you today but may be corrected against you later.
If you need a copy of the service book itself, the guide on getting your service book and personal file explains how to ask. Where the error has already caused a pay cut, write to the DDO with the corrected count and ask for the difference.
Railway, defence civilian, KVS and other staff
Railway employees get child care leave on similar terms through Railway Board orders that follow the DoPT pattern, and disputes go to CAT. Defence civilians in units, depots and workshops are covered by the CCS (Leave) Rules and also go to CAT. Teachers in Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya Vidyalayas have CCL under their own organisations' adoption of the central rules, with the added issue that leave during the school session is often refused; those organisations are notified under Section 14(2), so CAT hears their cases.
All India Service officers have a parallel provision in the All India Services (Leave) Rules. State government employees get CCL only if their state has adopted it, on the state's terms, and go to their State Administrative Tribunal or High Court. CAPF personnel generally have CCL under the central rules but take disputes to the High Court. PSU and bank employees depend on their own leave rules and also go to the High Court.
Where to file, and how fast
An Original Application goes to the CAT bench covering your place of posting. CCL cases are usually about a need with a date attached, so the question is less 'can I win' and more 'can I get an order in time'. Tribunals can list urgent matters quickly if the application shows the date of the exam or surgery and the refusal on record. Read interim relief under Section 24 before asking for an urgent direction.
Section 20 of the Administrative Tribunals Act ordinarily expects you to exhaust departmental remedies first, and to wait up to six months for a representation to be decided. That wait makes no sense when the surgery is next month. Tribunals do entertain applications earlier where the remedy would otherwise become useless, but you must show that you did write to the higher authority, that you asked for a quick decision, and that the date of the need is fixed. Our page on the representation Section 20 expects explains how to word that letter so it also serves the urgent case.
Where the need has already passed, a challenge still has value if the refusal forced you onto EOL, made you lose pay, or led to an absence case. The relief then is to treat the period as CCL and restore the pay.
Time and cost at each stage
| Stage | Typical time | Official cost |
|---|---|---|
| Application to the leave sanctioning authority | A few days to two weeks | Nil |
| Representation to the next higher authority | Ask for a decision within 7 to 15 days if the need is urgent | Nil |
| RTI for colleagues' leave orders or the refusal file | Up to 30 days | Rs 10 fee |
| OA in CAT with a request for interim direction | First hearing can be within days to a few weeks in a genuine emergency | A small fixed fee (Rs 50 under the CAT Procedure Rules at present; check with the registry) |
| Final decision in CAT where the need has passed | Often 1 to 2 years | No further official fee in most cases |
Things that make a CCL refusal harder to challenge
- Applying the day before. Unless the need was sudden, a last-minute application gives the office a fair reason to say no. Apply as early as you know.
- A vague purpose. 'Family reasons' invites a refusal. Say what the child needs and attach proof.
- Going on leave anyway. Absence without sanction turns your grievance into the office's disciplinary case.
- Not tracking your own balance. If your service book shows CCL wrongly debited, get it corrected early, before you need the rest of the 730 days.
- Asking for the whole balance at once without explanation. Long continuous spells are allowed, but a year-long request with no plan for the office's work makes refusal easy to justify.
When it is not worth a case
If the office offered you a reasonable alternative, such as the same leave two weeks later, and the need could wait, a tribunal case will cost you more time than it saves. If the refusal is about a fourth spell for a child who was not hospitalised, the rule is against you. In those situations a respectful second request with a better plan is usually more effective than litigation.
Advocate B.K. Singh's advice to most employees in CCL disputes is to keep the tone of every letter calm and child-focused. The record you create in these letters is what a tribunal reads, and an employee who offered alternatives and kept the office informed starts with an advantage. Our guide on protections for women central employees covers maternity leave and postings alongside CCL.
Getting advice on a CCL refusal
We advise from Dwarka, New Delhi and Vaishali, Ghaziabad, and by video call for employees posted elsewhere. When the need is urgent, send the refusal, the child's documents and your service book extract together so we can tell you quickly whether to write again or file. Fees are discussed at the first meeting and agreed in writing, stage by stage.
If your child care leave was refused, sanctioned in part or cut short and you want the papers looked at, contact Advocate B.K. Singh for advice on your papers or for updates on the law.
Frequently asked questions
Can child care leave be refused if I have enough CCL balance?
Yes, it can be refused, because the rule says CCL is not a matter of right. But the refusal must be for a real reason connected with the work of the office. A refusal with no reason, or a reason that misreads the rule, can be challenged.
Can a father take child care leave in central government?
Only a single father, meaning a man who is unmarried, a widower or divorced. A married father whose wife is alive is not eligible under Rule 43-C. Single fathers get CCL on the same conditions as women.
Is child care leave allowed for a child's exams?
Yes. The Supreme Court in Kakali Ghosh (2014) held that CCL covers the child's needs, including examinations, and is not limited to illness. Attach the date sheet with your application.
What is the age limit for child care leave?
The child must be below 18 years. For a child with a disability of 40 per cent or more, there is no upper age limit. Attach a valid disability certificate or UDID card.
How many times a year can I take CCL?
Up to three spells in a calendar year, or six for a single woman, each of at least five days. Since July 2024, up to three extra spells can be allowed when the child is admitted to hospital as an inpatient.
Do Saturdays and Sundays count in child care leave?
Yes. CCL is treated like earned leave, so weekends and holidays falling within a spell are counted as part of it. Holidays can be prefixed or suffixed in the usual way.
Is salary paid in full during child care leave?
Full leave salary is paid for the first 365 days of CCL you take in your career, and 80 per cent for the next 365 days. Allowances follow the usual leave rules.
Can I take child care leave during probation?
Ordinarily not, but DoPT instructions allow it in cases where the authority is satisfied there is a real need, for a minimal period. Explain the urgency and ask only for the days the situation requires.