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Kakali Ghosh v. Chief Secretary, Andaman & Nicobar Administration

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 4506 of 2014)Decided 15 Apr 2014
Civil Appeal No. 4506 of 2014
Justice Sudhansu Jyoti Mukhopadhaya · Justice V. Gopala Gowda

Background

A Central Government employee sought continuous child care leave to help her minor son through secondary and senior-secondary examinations, explaining difficult family circumstances. Although she requested 730 days, the administration granted only 45. The Tribunal directed compliance with the governing rules and guidelines, but the High Court held that leave could only be granted in limited spells.

Decision Breakdown

The Court allowed her appeal, restored the Tribunal's order and required compliance within three months. Reading the Rule 43-C framework and circulars before it, it rejected the High Court's assumption that continuous 730-day leave was prohibited; the allowance of multiple spells did not require splitting leave. The rules addressed children's needs, including examinations, and permitted eligible other leave to be combined with child care leave. Leave was still not an unconditional right: public-service exigencies could justify refusal or revocation under Rule 7. However, the administration had shown no such reason for withholding the remaining period in this case.

Lesson Learnt

Under the child-care-leave framework considered here, an eligible employee could request a continuous period rather than accept an invented compulsory division into short spells. Approval remained subject to legitimate public-service needs, which the authority had to identify rather than assume.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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