
The Kerala High Court recently confirmed the Administrative Tribunal’s ruling that the availability of Child Care Leave (CCL) cannot be argued to be limited to the two ‘eldest’ surviving children alone, especially given that the first two children were not eligible for the benefit.
The Division Bench, composed of Justices Alexander Thomas and C. Jayachandran, interpreted Section 43-C of the Central Civil Service (Leave) Rules 1972 as follows: CCL benefit is available for ‘two children’, regardless of whether they are ‘eldest’ or not. The Rule’s ‘up to two children’ limit is the only restriction.
It made the decision after taking into account a case in which a BSNL employee requested CCL for her third kid from a second marriage even though she had not used the same option for her two older children.
The Court explained that the Office Memorandum dated September 29, 2008 (hereinafter, “Annexure A5(a)”), which provided that CCL shall be admissible for two eldest surviving children and not to third child, assumes the factual presumption that the benefit of CCL has been utilised in respect of the eldest two children. As a result, it revoked the portion of the Tribunal’s ruling that deemed Annexure-A5(a) unlawful.
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Written By– Smrutiman Anantveer Mohanty, College Name– Army Law College, Pune Intern under Legal Vidhiya
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