Leave Not Due — Rules, Eligibility and Recovery Conditions Explained

What happens when an employee needs medical leave but has exhausted their entire Half Pay Leave balance? The CCS (Leave) Rules provide an answer: "Leave Not Due" — essentially, an advance against HPL the employee hasn't earned yet. This article explains Rule 31, including its 360-day lifetime cap and the recovery conditions that apply if an employee leaves service without "paying it back" through future service.

What Is Leave Not Due?

Leave Not Due (LND) allows a Government servant in permanent or quasi-permanent employ (other than a military officer) to take Half Pay Leave in advance of earning it — effectively creating a negative balance in their HPL account, which is expected to be "paid off" through future service.

Three Core Conditions for LND

Under Rule 31(1), LND may be granted subject to:

1. Reasonable prospect of return to duty — the authority competent to grant leave must be satisfied that there is a reasonable prospect of the Government servant returning to duty on expiry of the leave.
2. Limited to future HPL likely to be earned — LND is limited to the Half Pay Leave the employee is likely to earn subsequently. The competent authority effectively makes a forward-looking estimate.
3. Debited against future HPL earnings — LND taken is debited against the HPL the Government servant earns subsequently, as and when it accrues (at the standard rate of 5/3 days per month — see our article on Half Pay Leave and Commuted Leave).

Special Provision for Temporary Employees: TB, Leprosy, Cancer, Mental Illness

Under Rule 31(1-A), LND may also be granted to temporary Government servants suffering from Tuberculosis, Leprosy, Cancer, or Mental Illness, for up to 360 days during entire service, subject to the same three core conditions above, PLUS:

• The employee has put in a minimum of 1 year's service;
• The post from which the employee proceeds on leave is likely to last till their return to duty; and
• The request is supported by a medical certificate as specified under the relevant sub-rule for such conditions.

This extends a benefit normally associated with permanent/quasi-permanent employees to certain temporary employees facing serious health conditions — a meaningful safety net.

How LND Interacts With Your HPL Account

Think of LND as creating a "debt" against your future HPL credits. As your HPL account is credited at 5/3 days per completed month (see our Half Pay Leave article), each new credit first goes toward repaying any LND already availed, before adding to your "positive" HPL balance.

Worked Example

Smt. Anjana has 0 days of HPL at credit but needs 90 days of medical leave. Her competent authority assesses that, based on her remaining service, she is likely to earn sufficient HPL in the future to cover this, and is satisfied there is reasonable prospect of her return to duty.

• She is granted 90 days of Leave Not Due, on medical certificate, at half pay.
• This creates a "negative" HPL balance of 90 days.
• Over the following months, as she earns HPL at 5/3 days per month (20 days/year), each credit reduces this negative balance — it will take her about 4.5 years of subsequent service to fully "earn back" the 90 days, assuming she takes no further HPL/LND in the interim.

What Happens If You Resign or Retire Voluntarily Without Returning to Duty?

This is where LND carries real financial risk. Under Rule 31(2)(a):

• If a Government servant who has been granted LND resigns from service, or — at their own request — is permitted to retire voluntarily without returning to duty after the LND, then:
  • The LND is cancelled;
  • The resignation/retirement is treated as taking effect from the date the LND commenced (not the actual later date); and
  • The leave salary paid during the LND period must be recovered from the employee.

What If You Return to Duty But Then Resign or Retire Before "Earning Back" the LND?

Under Rule 31(2)(b), if a Government servant did return to duty after availing LND, but subsequently resigns or retires before they have "earned" the LND through accumulated future HPL credits, they are liable to refund the leave salary to the extent the leave has not been earned subsequently.

Example: If Smt. Anjana from the earlier example takes 90 days of LND, returns to duty, but resigns just 1 year later (having earned back only 20 days of the 90-day LND), she would be liable to refund leave salary corresponding to the remaining 70 days not yet "earned back."

Important Exceptions to the Recovery Rule

The recovery of leave salary under either Clause (a) or Clause (b) above does NOT apply in two situations:

• Retirement due to ill-health — if the retirement is by reason of ill-health incapacitating the Government servant for further service; OR
• Death — if the Government servant dies (whether before or after returning to duty).

Additionally, under a further proviso, no leave salary shall be recovered if the Government servant is:

• Compulsorily retired prematurely under the relevant CCS (Pension) Rules provision dealing with compulsory retirement in public interest; or
• Retired under Fundamental Rule 56(j) or 56(l) (provisions dealing with retirement in public interest after a certain age/service, typically used in the context of periodic review of Government servants).

In essence: if the separation from service was not the employee's own voluntary choice without returning to duty — i.e., it was due to health incapacity, death, or a Government-initiated compulsory retirement — the harsh recovery provisions of Rule 31(2) do not apply.

LND vs Commuted Leave vs EOL — Quick Comparison

LND in Combination With Maternity Leave and Child Care Leave

As discussed in our articles on Maternity, Paternity and Adoption Leave and Child Care Leave, LND can be granted in continuation of Maternity Leave (up to 2 years total with other leave), Child Adoption Leave, and Child Care Leave (up to 1 year) — and notably, in these specific continuations, the usual medical certificate requirement for LND is waived. This is a significant relaxation that makes LND much more accessible for new parents extending their time away from work.

Practical Advice Before Taking LND

• Understand the "repayment" timeline — at 20 days of HPL earned per year, large LND grants (e.g., 180+ days) can take many years to "earn back."
• Think carefully before resigning or seeking voluntary retirement shortly after LND — the recovery provisions can result in a significant clawback of leave salary already paid.
• If health is the reason for an eventual exit, ensure the retirement is properly documented as being on grounds of ill-health incapacitating further service — this is the key exception that avoids recovery.
• For new parents, LND in continuation of Maternity/Child Adoption/Child Care Leave offers a relatively low-friction way to extend leave without a medical certificate — but the same future-earning and recovery principles still apply if you separate from service shortly after.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)