MASTER CIRCULAR

Master Circular No. 15

Casual Leave.

The instructions issued by the Railway Board from time to time on the subject of
Casual Leave are contained in several letters. It has now been decided by the
Railway Board, to issue a consolidated Master Circular, as below incorporating all
the instructions issued so far on the subject, for the information and guidance of
all concerned.

2. Casual Leave is a leave admissible to Railway servants in all groups (i.e. A, B, C

& D) and is granted to enable them to attend to sudden/unforeseen needs/
requirements. It is not recognised as leave or subject to any rule under the leave
rules applicable to the Railway servants. Therefore, a Railway servant on casual
leave is technically not treated as absent from duty and his pay is not intermitted.

[Rule 507 - R.I. (1985 Edition)

and App. XXXI (IV) (2) of R.I. (1974 Edition]

2.1. Casual Leave should not, however, be granted to Railway servants so as to

cause evasion of the rules regarding:

a. Date of reckoning of pay and allowances;

b. Change of office;
c. Commencement and end of leave; and
d. Return to duty;

or so as to extend the term of leave beyond the time admissible by rule.

[Rule 236 - Establishment Code Vol. I/1985]

3. The total Casual Leave admissible to Railway servants in a calendar year will be
as under:

I (i) 12 To all Railway servants who are eligible to avail of all Public holidays or
days workshop paid-holidays;
(ii) 12 (a): Workshop Staff
days (b): Railway servants in workshops not covered by the term workshop
staff and Railway servants in Printing Presses and Stores Depots, who are
getting 15 paid-holidays in a year;
(iii) 12 Divisional Medical Officers and Assistant Medical Officers.
days
(iv) 12 Apprentice Mechanics, Apprentice Khalasis, under training in workshops
days and other Apprentices not governed by the Apprentices Act, 1961 attached
to workshops and printing Presses, who are getting 15 paid-holidays in a
year.
 (v) 12 Trade Apprentices governed by the Apprentices Act, 1961 working in
days Establishments where proper leave rules do not exist or the total leave of
different types admissible to the workers is less than 37 days in a year.

[Rule 9(1) (a) of Apprenticeship Rules, 1962]

II 15 days To all Railway servants who, because of the nature of their

duties are not allowed to avail themselves of public holidays at
all or are allowed to avail themselves only of a few public
holidays.
III 15 days Artisan staff other than workshop staff, provided they are not
covered by a collective option to convert casual leave into
paid-holidays.
IV 15 days Casual Labourers who have attained temporary status and
who are being allowed to avail of 3 National Holidays like
regular line staff.
V 17 Days (12 Railway servants on the Northeast Frontier Railway described
days normal 5 in para 2(ii) of Board's letter No. E(G)83 AL 12/8 dated
days extra) 23/07/1984.

[Board's letters No. E(G)58 AL 1/1 dated 15/02/1958;

PC/60/LE7/1 dated 23/04/1960;
E(G)67 LE 1-7 dated 22/11/1967;
*E (G) 70 LE1/5 dated 27.04.1972;
E(G)70 LE 1/5 Pt. dated 22/06/1973;
E(G)83 AL 12/8 dated 23/07/1984,
E(G)70 LE 1/5 dated 18/02/1972]

4. Public holidays, closed Saturdays, Sundays and weekly offs falling within a spell
of casual leave will not count as casual leave and may be prefixed and/or suffixed
to casual leave. A restricted holiday when it is availed of by a Railway servant,
should be treated as a Public holiday for this purpose.

[No. PC/60/LE7/1 dated 24/08/1960]

5. There is no limit on the total period or absence at a time on casual leave

inclusive of public holidays, closed Saturdays, Sundays and weekly offs falling
within the spell of casual leave or which may be prefixed/suffixed thereto.

[No. E(G)67 LE 1-5 dated 05/08/1967]

6. Casual leave for half-a-day either for the pre-lunch session or for post-lunch
session may be granted depending upon the applicant's needs.

6.1 A Railway servant, who takes casual leave, while on tour, is not entitled to
draw daily allowance for the period of leave. If the casual leave is for half-a-day,
while on tour, the Railway Servant may draw only half the normal daily allowance
of that day.

[Rule 1617(2) - Establishment Code Vol. II/1987]

6.2 Half-a-day's should be debited to the casual leave account of the Railway
servant concerned for each late attendance. The practice of allowing the Railway
Servants to attend office late or leave early with permission has ceased with the
introduction of the facility of grant of casual leave for half-a-day. Late attendance
up to an hour, on not more than two occasions in a month however can be
condoned by the competent authority, if it is satisfied that the late attendance is
due to unavoidable reasons, such as illness in the family, cycle puncture, late
running of buses/ trains etc.

[No. E(G)65 LE 2/29 dated 06/11/1965]

6.3 Cases of Railway servants leaving office early before the time for closing of
office, without permission should also be treated like late attendance and half-a-
day's casual leave should be debited to the casual leave account of the railway
servant(s) concerned for each such early departure.

[No. E(G)75 LE 1/17 dated 17/10/1975]

6.4 Casual leave for half-a-day may be granted in conjunction with casual leave for
a full day or full days.

[ No. E(G)65 LE 2/29 dated 06/11/1965]

6.5 Facility of grant of half-a-day's casual leave is admissible to all the employees
including the teachers in Railway schools and colleges.

[E(G)87 LE 1-3 dated 17/11/1987]

7. Workshop staff may be granted casual leave for half-a-day or for the full day on
Saturdays, depending upon the period of working i.e. if there are two periods of
working on Saturday and the absence is during either of the two periods, casual
leave may be granted for half-a-day and if there is only one period of working on a
Saturday, the leave should be for a full day.

[Ref: Board's letter No. E(G)72 LE 2/41 dated 10/04/1973]

8. Casual leave cannot be combined with any other leave, except with (i)
compensatory casual leave granted to Groups 'C' & 'D' employees other than
supervisory staff, for attending on Sundays and holidays; (ii) Special casual leave
sanctioned for participation in sporting events/events of national importance and
for scouting duties, subject to the stipulation laid down in Board's letter
No. E(W)80 WE 6-2 dated 05/01/1983; and (iii) Special casual leave sanctioned
for sterilisation, recanalisation operations under the Family Welfare Programme.
There is also no objection to casual leave being followed by quarantine leave.

[Ref: Board's letters No. EE(W)80 WE 6-2 dated 05/01/1983,

E(W)60 SP 1/26 dated 30.01.1961,
78/H(FW) 9/5 dated 11/06/1981
and Rule 507 Establishment Code Vol. I/1985]

8.1. Casual leave cannot also be combined with joining time.

[Ref: Board's letter No. E(G)79 JT 1-1 dated 21/02/1980]

8.2. Casual leave cannot be combined with vacation allowed for school staff.

[Ref: Board's letter no. E(55) LE 2/74/3 dated 27.07.1955]

8.3. A Railway servant, who has taken casual leave for half-a-day on the afternoon
of a working day and is unable to resume duty on the next working day due to
unexpected sickness or compelling grounds and he has no casual leave at his
credit, may, as an exception to the general rule, be permitted to combine half-a-
day's casual leave with regular leave. In no other situation can this facility be
allowed.

[Ref: Board's letter No. E(G)65 LE 2/29 dated 25/06/1966]

9. If a Railway servant having no casual leave at his credit comes late without
sufficient justification and the competent authority is not prepared to condone the
late attendance and does not also at the same time propose to take action under
the Railway Servants (D&A) Rules, the Railway servant should be informed that he
would be treated as on unauthorised absence for the day on which he had come
late. It should be left to the Railway servant either to face the consequences of
such unauthorised absence or to apply for regular leave as may be due to him.
These instructions are, however, not applicable to Railway employees governed by
the provisions of Payment of Wages Act, 1936 and Industrial Disputes Act.

[Ref: Board's letter No. E(G)82 LE 1/10 dated 20/09/1982 and 14/03/1983]

10. A candidate who joins Railway service in the middle of the year is entitled to
the full quantum of casual leave. While there is no restriction to the grant of the
full quantum of casual leave to those joining service in the second half of the year,
the authority sanctioning the casual leave should take into account all the
circumstances before granting such leave. For example, it would be
administratively inappropriate to sanction 12 days/15 days/17 days casual leave
to an employee, who has joined in the middle of December i.e. on 16th December.

[Ref: Board's letter No. E(G)56 LE 2/91/3 dated 05/10/1956]

11. Casual leave not availed of within the calendar year will lapse at the end of the
year i.e. on 31st December.

12. General Manager may delegate powers to the senior Subordinates/Supervisors

in independent charge of units, to sanction casual leave to the Group 'C' and Group
'D' employees working under them.

13.

i. While referring to this master circular, the original letters mentioned herein
should be read for a proper appreciation. The master circular is only a
consolidation of the existing instructions and should not be treated as a
substitution to the original circulars. In case of doubt, the original letters
should be relied upon as authority;
 ii. The instructions contained in the original letters referred to have only
prospective effect from the date of issue unless indicated otherwise;
iii. If any circular on the subject which has not been superseded has been lost
sight of in the preparation of the master circular, the said circular, which
has been missed through oversight should not be ignored but should be
treated as valid and operative.

14. Copies of letters on the basis of which the consolidated matter circular has
been prepared are enclosed.

Encl. Annexure indicating the reference number and date of original circulars
enclosed.

ANNEXURE

1. No. E(G)58 AL 1/1 dated 15.02.1958

2. No. PC/60/LE7/1 dated 23.04.1960
3. No. PC/60/LE7/1 dated 24.08.1960
4. No. E(G)65 LE 2/29 dated 06.11.1965
5. No. E(G)65 LE 2/29 dated 25.06.1966
6. No. E(G)67 LE 1-5 dated 05.08.1967
7. No. E(G)70 LE 1/5 dated 18.02.1972
8. No. E(G)70 LE 1/5 dated 22.04.1972
9. No. E(G)72 LE 2/41 dated 10.04.1973
10.No. E(G)70 LE 1/5 Pt. dated 22.06.1973
11.No. E(G)82 LE 1/10 dated 20.09.1982
12.No. E(G)83 AL 12/8 dated 06.02.1984
13.No. E(G)83 AL 12/8 dated 20.02.1984
14.No. E(G)83 AL 12/8 dated 23.07.1984
15.No. E(W)80 WE 6-2 dated 05.01.1983
16.No. E(G)56 LE 2/91/3 dated 05.10.1956
17.No. E(G)75 LE 1/17 dated 17.10.1975
18.No. E(G)87 LE 1-3 dated 17.11.1987
19.No. E(55) LE2/74/4 dated 27.07.1955
20.No. E(G)67 LE 1-7 dated 22.11.1967

Other letters

1. No. E(G)79 JT 1-1 dated 21.02.1980

2. No. 78/H(FW) 9/5 dated 11.06.1981
3. No. E(G)82 LE 1/10 dated 14.03.1983

Letters issued subsequently after issue of Master Circular

Amendment to Para 3 vide Railway Board's letter No. E(G)2001 LE 1/7(Master
Circular) dated 27.1.2002.