In short. Women central government employees' rights at work include 180 days of maternity leave, up to 730 days of child care leave, special leave after a stillbirth, adoption or surrogacy, a fair hearing for a request to be posted with a spouse, and protection from sexual harassment. This guide is for women in ministries, departments and notified bodies, and for those who advise them. A leave refusal or posting dispute is usually settled by representation within weeks; a Tribunal case takes longer. If something has been refused, ask for the reasons in writing now.
Is this your situation?
- You are pregnant and your office says you are not eligible for maternity leave because of earlier children.
- Your child care leave application for your child's board exams was refused or cut to a few days.
- You were transferred to a station far from your husband even though he is also a central employee.
- You had a stillbirth or lost a newborn and were asked to use your earned leave.
- You are adopting a child, or having a child through surrogacy, and are unsure what leave applies.
- A complaint you made to the Internal Committee has led to a hostile atmosphere or a sudden transfer.
- You are a contract or outsourced worker in a government office and were refused maternity benefit.
In short
- Maternity leave is 180 days on full pay for a woman with fewer than two surviving children, and it is not deducted from your leave account.
- Child care leave can total 730 days across your career, for your two eldest children up to 18, or at any age for a child with a disability.
- CCL needs prior sanction and can be refused for work reasons, but a refusal should give reasons and should not be routine.
- Spouse posting guidelines are not an absolute right, yet the department must actually consider them; a mechanical rejection can be challenged.
- Harassment complaints go to the Internal Committee, which can recommend your transfer or extra leave while it inquires.
- Put every request in writing and keep the diary number; oral refusals are the hardest to challenge.
Leave available to women central employees at a glance
| Kind of leave | Where it comes from | How much | Main condition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maternity leave | Rule 43, CCS (Leave) Rules, 1972 | 180 days | Fewer than two surviving children |
| Leave on miscarriage or abortion | Rule 43 | Up to 45 days in the whole career | Medical certificate; number of children does not matter |
| Special maternity leave | DoPT OM of 2 September 2022 | 60 days | Stillbirth, or death of the baby soon after birth |
| Child adoption leave | Rule 43-B | 180 days | Adopted child below one year; fewer than two surviving children |
| Maternity leave in surrogacy | Rule 43(6), added by G.S.R. 331(E) of 18 June 2024 | 180 days each to the commissioning and the surrogate mother | Commissioning mother has fewer than two surviving children |
| Child care leave | Rule 43-C | 730 days over the whole service | Two eldest children below 18, or a disabled child of any age |
| Paternity leave (for the husband) | Rule 43-A | 15 days | Within six months of delivery; fewer than two surviving children |
Rights of women central government employees: where they come from
The rights of women central government employees on leave are written in the CCS (Leave) Rules, 1972, which apply to most civil employees of the Union. These are statutory rules made under Article 309. An office cannot refuse a leave that the rules give as of right, such as maternity leave, by pointing to workload or a shortage of staff.
Other protections come from DoPT office memorandums: the spouse posting guidelines of 30 September 2009, the 2018 instructions on employees caring for disabled dependants, and the 2022 order on special maternity leave. Office memorandums guide the department's discretion. They are not as strong as a rule, but a decision that ignores them without reason is arbitrary and can be set aside.
Workplace protection against sexual harassment rests on the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, and on Rule 3C of the CCS (Conduct) Rules, which makes harassment a misconduct by the employee who commits it. Article 15(3) of the Constitution, which allows special provision for women, sits behind all of it, and courts read the leave rules generously because of it.
Maternity leave of 180 days: the conditions and the fine print
Rule 43 gives a woman government servant, including an apprentice, maternity leave of 180 days on full pay, if she has fewer than two surviving children. Leave salary equals the pay she drew immediately before going on leave. The leave is not debited to her leave account and it counts for increments and pension. It can begin before delivery on medical advice; the 180 days are then counted from the start.
Maternity leave of 180 days can be followed by any other kind of leave due, without a break: earned leave, half pay leave, commuted leave (up to 60 days without a medical certificate in this situation) or child care leave. Many women do not know this and return to duty before they are ready. Apply for the extension before the maternity leave ends, not after.
Probationers are entitled to maternity leave like anyone else. A woman on probation cannot be discharged, or have her confirmation held up, because she took the leave the rules gave her. If a probation extension letter mentions the leave as the reason, keep it; it is useful evidence.
Disputes usually turn on the 'fewer than two surviving children' condition. In Deepika Singh v. Central Administrative Tribunal (2022) a nursing officer at PGIMER Chandigarh was refused maternity leave for her first biological child because she had earlier taken child care leave for her husband's two children from his first marriage. The Supreme Court allowed her claim, holding that the rule must be read with its purpose and that families come in many forms. In 2025 the Supreme Court also upheld a Tamil Nadu teacher's claim to maternity leave for a third child born in a second marriage, under the state's rules; whether that reasoning extends to the central rule has not been settled, so check before relying on it.
A woman who has two surviving children and becomes pregnant again is not entitled to maternity leave under Rule 43, but she can take any other leave due to her. Leave on miscarriage or abortion, up to 45 days in her whole service, does not depend on the number of children.
Stillbirth, adoption and surrogacy
Since the DoPT order of 2 September 2022, a woman employee whose baby is stillborn, or dies soon after birth, gets 60 days of special maternity leave. The order defines these events and sets conditions about where the delivery took place, with an exception for emergencies; read it with your hospital papers. If maternity leave had already begun, the order explains how the days already taken are adjusted. Offices still sometimes tell a grieving mother to apply for earned leave. Quote the order.
A woman who adopts a child below one year may get child adoption leave of 180 days under Rule 43-B, if she has fewer than two surviving children. The leave starts from the date of the valid adoption. Keep the adoption order from the court or the adoption agency's papers ready, because the office will ask for them.
The June 2024 amendment brought surrogacy in. A commissioning mother and a surrogate mother may each be given 180 days of maternity leave where either or both are government servants, so long as the commissioning mother has fewer than two surviving children. The commissioning mother may also take child care leave, and the commissioning father gets 15 days of paternity leave within six months of the delivery.
Child care leave: how the 730 days actually work
Rule 43-C gives child care leave to a woman government servant, and to a single male government servant such as a widower or divorcee, for the care of the two eldest surviving children. The child must be below 18, except a child with a disability of 40 per cent or more, for whom there is no age limit. The total is 730 days over the whole service, not per child.
Leave salary is full pay for the first 365 days of CCL and 80 per cent of pay for the next 365 days. CCL is not debited to the earned leave account, and it can be combined with other leave. Each spell must be at least five days, and a woman may take CCL in not more than three spells in a calendar year; a single woman may take six. A DoPT order of 29 July 2024 allows additional spells where a child is hospitalised; check its conditions.
CCL is not limited to exams or illness. The rule itself speaks of rearing the child or looking after needs such as examination and sickness, and the Supreme Court read it generously in Kakali Ghosh (2014). It can be used for a board exam, a long illness, a move to a new school or a child's surgery. LTC can be drawn during CCL. CCL is not normally granted during probation, except in serious situations where the authority is satisfied, so new joiners should expect more questions.
The leave has to be sanctioned before you go. Proceeding on CCL without sanction can be treated as unauthorised absence, which has led to charge sheets. If the matter is urgent, apply by email, keep the sent copy, and ask for a decision the same day.
When child care leave can be refused, and when the refusal is wrong
CCL cannot be claimed as of right. The sanctioning authority may refuse or shorten it in the interests of work, and courts accept that. What courts do not accept is a refusal without reasons, a blanket policy of refusing all CCL during a particular season, or a refusal aimed at one woman while others in the same section are given leave.
A good refusal says what work requires your presence, for how long, and offers an alternative date. A bad one says only 'not sanctioned due to exigencies'. If you receive the second kind, write back asking which work, and offering to hand over charge or to take the leave in two spells. That letter often changes the answer, and if it does not, it makes the later challenge much stronger.
Cutting a sanctioned CCL short and recalling you to duty is possible in an emergency, but it should be in writing with reasons, and the unused days stay in your account. Treating a CCL period as dies non or converting it to extraordinary leave after it was sanctioned is a separate wrong. Our page on child care leave refused or cut short deals with these situations in detail, and the page on leave treated as dies non or converted to EOL covers the second.
Postings: spouses, caregivers and mothers of young children
The DoPT OM of 30 September 2009 asks departments to post husband and wife at the same station as far as possible. Where both are in the same central department, the department should try to keep them together. Where they are in different central departments, or one is in a state government or a PSU, the department with a presence at the spouse's station is asked to consider posting there. They do not give an enforceable right to a particular station. In Union of India v. S.L. Abbas (1993) the Supreme Court said transfer guidelines must be kept in mind but do not override administrative need.
So the question in a dispute is whether the department considered the request properly. Spouse posting for women employees fails most often because the request was never formally made, or was made to the wrong authority, or the department never replied. Make the request in writing with your spouse's posting order attached, address it to the authority who controls transfers in your cadre, and repeat it at each annual transfer exercise. The spouse posting page explains how a refusal is tested.
A woman who is the main caregiver of a child or dependant with a disability has stronger protection. The DoPT OM of 8 October 2018 exempts such caregivers from routine and rotational transfers, and the Delhi High Court applied it in DRDO v. Dr. Deepti Bhardwaj in September 2026. A transfer request on medical grounds or for a disabled child is covered on our medical ground transfer page.
For women central government employees with young children, the department's own transfer policy often matters more than the OM. Many of them, including those of KVS and some railway zones, give concessions to pregnant employees and mothers of very young children. These are department-specific. Ask for the current policy in writing, and if a transfer order is issued during pregnancy or maternity leave, raise the point before you are relieved, not after.
Workplace protection from sexual harassment
Every office with ten or more employees must have an Internal Committee under the POSH Act, headed by a senior woman employee and including an outside member. A complaint should be made within three months of the incident, which the committee can extend by another three months for good reason. For central government employees, the Internal Committee acts as the inquiring authority under the CCS (CCA) Rules, so its report goes to the disciplinary authority for action against the harasser.
During the inquiry, Section 12 of the Act lets the committee recommend that the complainant or the respondent be transferred, that the complainant be given up to three months of extra leave, or that the respondent be stopped from writing her APAR or supervising her work. These are requests you can make in writing to the committee. Our guide on interim relief for a complainant explains how.
Retaliation is the most common follow-up problem: a sudden transfer, an adverse APAR entry or a show cause notice soon after the complaint. Note the dates. A transfer or adverse entry that follows a complaint closely, without an independent reason, can be challenged as mala fide. If you are facing or filing a complaint, see our page on Internal Committee complaints for central employees.
Does leave affect your career?
It should not. The leave rules for women central government employees are written so that leave taken lawfully does not count against you. Maternity leave, CCL, earned leave and half pay leave all count for annual increments under FR 26. Only extraordinary leave is excluded, unless it was taken on medical grounds or for study approved by the authority. Your seniority does not change because you took leave.
The APAR system can cause indirect harm. If you worked under a reporting officer for less than three months in a year, no APAR is written for that period, and a DPC then looks at earlier years. That is a neutral rule, but it can hurt if your earlier grading was weaker. Make sure the reasons for any gap are recorded as leave, so that the DPC does not treat it as a missing report. The guide on missing APARs and the DPC explains what the committee does in that case.
Any remark in an APAR about 'frequent leave' or 'lack of availability', where the leave was sanctioned maternity or child care leave, is open to challenge. Represent against it within the 15 days you are given after disclosure.
Advocate B.K. Singh's two practical tips
Advocate B.K. Singh's first tip is to apply for long leave in one complete application. When a woman applies for maternity leave, he suggests the same letter also asks for the earned leave or CCL she wants to follow it, with dates. Sanction for the whole period is then given, or refused, in one decision, and she is not left calling the office from a hospital bed to extend her leave.
His second tip is about records. Most of the women who come to him with a CCL or posting grievance have strong facts and weak paper: a refusal conveyed over the phone, an application handed to the section without a receipt, a transfer request made orally at a meeting. Get the diary number for every application, and keep screenshots of email delivery. When the matter reaches the Tribunal, the case is built from those papers.
If your leave or posting request is refused
Ask for the order and its reasons
Request a written copy of the refusal with reasons. Under the rules you are entitled to know why. A refusal conveyed orally is not an order you can challenge, so this step matters.
Represent to the next authority
Write to the authority above the one who refused, through proper channel. Quote the rule or OM, give the dates you need, offer alternatives such as shorter spells or handing over charge, and attach supporting papers such as the doctor's letter or the school's exam schedule.
Use internal grievance channels
Many departments have a grievance officer or a women's cell. These can resolve a refusal faster than a legal process, and their involvement is useful evidence later.
Ask for urgent consideration where there is a deadline
Board exams, a surgery date or a delivery date cannot wait. Say so in the representation and ask for a decision within a stated time.
Approach the Tribunal
If the representation is rejected, or a decision is needed before the department will give one, an OA can be filed with a request for interim relief under Section 24. CAT benches do hear urgent leave and transfer matters quickly where the dates are close.
A made-up example: a senior auditor in Jaipur
Here's a made-up example. Ms. Rathore is a Senior Auditor in an audit office in Jaipur. Her son is in Class 12 and his board exams start in mid-February. In December she applies for 45 days of child care leave from 1 February. In January the section officer tells her by phone that leave cannot be given during the closing of accounts.
She asks for a written decision. The written reply says only 'not agreed due to administrative exigencies'. Two of her colleagues, she knows, have been sanctioned earned leave for the same period. She writes to the Deputy Accountant General, quoting Rule 43-C, offering to take the leave in two spells of 20 days, with a week of work in between to close her assigned files, and attaching the board's exam schedule.
Ten days later, with no reply, she consults a lawyer, who drafts an OA asking for a direction to decide her representation and for interim relief. Before it is listed, the office sanctions 30 days in two spells. Many such disputes end at that stage. If they do not, the Tribunal will usually look at whether the refusal had real reasons, whether others were treated differently, and whether a workable alternative was refused without thought. This is an illustration, not a forecast of any case.
Papers to keep for a leave or posting dispute
- Your leave application with the diary number or email delivery proof
- The refusal, or a note of the date and the officer who conveyed it orally
- Medical certificate from a registered doctor, and hospital discharge papers where relevant
- Child's birth certificate, school letter or board exam schedule
- Disability certificate of the child or dependant, if any
- Spouse's appointment and posting orders, and proof of marriage
- The department's current transfer policy and the transfer order you object to
- Leave account statement showing CCL used so far
- Any complaint to the Internal Committee and its acknowledgement
How long a challenge takes, and what it costs
| Step | Usual time | Fees and costs |
|---|---|---|
| Written representation | Decision in 2 to 6 weeks in most offices; urgent cases faster | Nothing |
| Internal Committee inquiry | Act requires completion in 90 days | Nothing |
| OA with interim relief in an urgent leave or transfer matter | Interim order possible within days or weeks of filing | Fixed OA fee (Rs 50 under Rule 7; verify the current fee with the registry), plus drafting and typing costs |
| Final decision of the OA | Several months to 2 years | No further Tribunal fee for hearings |
| Writ against the CAT order | 1 to 3 years in the High Court | High Court fee under state rules |
Where the dispute goes
Leave, posting and transfer are service matters. For employees of central ministries, departments and bodies notified under Section 14(2), the Original Application goes to the CAT bench within whose territory you are posted. Under Section 20 the Tribunal expects you to have represented first, though in a genuinely urgent leave matter it will not insist on waiting six months.
A woman in a CAPF such as the CRPF, BSF or CISF goes to the High Court, not CAT. Women officers in the armed forces go to the Armed Forces Tribunal. Employees of PSUs and public sector banks are governed by their employer's own leave rules and go to the High Court. State government employees go to the State Administrative Tribunal where one exists, or the High Court.
A sexual harassment complaint is first decided by the Internal Committee. Its report, and any penalty that follows, can be challenged before CAT by either party once the disciplinary authority acts.
Railway, postal, KVS and contract staff
Railway employees are governed by the railway leave rules, which give maternity leave and child care leave on lines similar to the CCS (Leave) Rules, with changes notified through Railway Board circulars. Check the latest RBE before quoting a provision. Postal employees follow the CCS (Leave) Rules. Gramin Dak Sevaks have their own scheme of paid leave under the GDS rules, which includes maternity leave; check the current GDS orders for the details.
KVS and NVS teachers are covered by their organisations' adoption of the central rules, and their transfer policies have their own points for women and for spouse cases. A teacher who is refused a spouse ground transfer should read the current policy's clause on it, not the DoPT OM alone.
Women working in a government office through a contractor, or on contract with the office directly, are not covered by the CCS (Leave) Rules. Their maternity benefit now comes from the Code on Social Security, 2020, in force since 21 November 2025, which carried forward the 26 weeks of benefit under the old Maternity Benefit Act. In Kavita Yadav (2023) the Supreme Court held that a contractual employee was entitled to the full maternity benefit even beyond the end of her contract term. Their claims go to the labour authorities or the High Court, not CAT.
Things women are often told that are not correct
- 'You are on probation, so no maternity leave.' Wrong. Rule 43 does not exclude probationers.
- 'Maternity leave will be deducted from your earned leave.' Wrong. It is a separate entitlement, not debited to the leave account.
- 'CCL is only for exams and sickness.' Wrong. It covers the child's needs generally.
- 'Your husband's earlier children count against you.' Not necessarily. Deepika Singh (2022) shows the count is not mechanical.
- 'Spouse posting is automatic.' Also wrong, in the other direction. It must be requested in writing and considered; it is not guaranteed.
What to do this week
If you are planning leave, write one application covering the full period you need, with the rule cited and the papers attached, and get a diary number. If leave has been refused, ask for the reasons in writing and send a short representation to the next authority, offering an alternative if you can.
If a transfer separates you from your spouse or from a disabled child, put the spouse or caregiver ground in writing before you are relieved. If the problem is harassment, make a written complaint to the Internal Committee and ask for interim relief in the same letter.
When the refusal concerns child care leave, our CCL refusal page sets out how such cases are argued. For advice on your own papers, or for updates on the leave and posting rules, you can contact Advocate B.K. Singh.
Frequently asked questions
Can I get maternity leave for my third child in central government?
Rule 43 gives maternity leave only to a woman with fewer than two surviving children. For a third child you can take other leave due, such as earned leave or half pay leave. A 2025 Supreme Court ruling under Tamil Nadu's rules has raised arguments, but the central position is not settled.
Is child care leave paid at full salary?
Full pay for the first 365 days of CCL taken in your career, and 80 per cent of pay for the next 365 days. The leave is not deducted from your earned leave account.
Can my office refuse CCL during probation?
CCL is not normally given during probation, though it can be sanctioned in serious situations. Maternity leave, on the other hand, cannot be refused to a probationer who meets the conditions.
Is there a minimum period for one spell of child care leave?
Yes, each spell must be at least five days. You can take up to three spells a year, or six if you are a single woman.
My husband is in a state government job. Can I ask for a posting near him?
Yes. The DoPT spouse posting guidelines cover cases where one spouse is in a state government, and ask the central department to consider posting you at or near the spouse's station. Make the request in writing with his posting order.
Will taking long CCL delay my promotion?
CCL counts for increments and does not reduce seniority. It can affect which APARs a DPC sees, so make sure the leave is recorded properly and that no adverse remark refers to it.
What leave do I get if my baby is stillborn?
Sixty days of special maternity leave under the DoPT order of 2 September 2022, subject to its conditions. Do not let the office debit earned leave instead.
Can a contract worker in a ministry claim maternity leave?
Not under the CCS (Leave) Rules, but she is entitled to maternity benefit under the Code on Social Security, 2020, generally 26 weeks if she meets the qualifying days. Disputes go to the labour authorities or the High Court.
Advocate B.K. Singh
Founder of B.K. Singh & Associates. MCA, LL.B., LL.M. More than twenty years in practice before the Supreme Court, the Delhi High Court and other High Courts, the Central Administrative Tribunal and other tribunals. This guide was written and reviewed by his team.
This guide explains the law in general terms and is not legal advice. For advice on your own papers, contact the team.
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