SOON, GETTING CHILD CARE LEAVE MAY BE A BREEZE IN THE GOVERNMENT

In a move that would practically make child care leave (CCL) a matter of right, the Centre proposed to amend on Tuesday the rulebook to require officers to grant CCL unless there are “extraordinarily compelling circumstances” to justify its refusal.

The government had introduced CCL on the recommendation of the sixth pay commission but there had been numerous instances of departments consistently refusing grant of leave on grounds of public service exigencies to enable employees to take care of their children.

On Tuesday, the Centre proposed a change in rules to make it easier for women to get the leave.

In cases where a female government servant applies for CCL for at least five working days, she should normally not be refused leave citing exigencies of work unless there are grave and extraordinarily compelling circumstances that warrant refusal,” a proposal by the department of personnel & training said.

Government officials said the change would ensure that officials would be able to reject leave requests only if they were able to demonstrate that there were “grave and extraordinarily compelling circumstances”.