Dies Non

Dies non is the treatment of a period of absence as neither duty nor leave in central government service, so that the days earn no pay, do not count towards the increment, and reduce the next half-yearly leave credits. The pay consequence comes from the proviso to FR 17(1) of the Fundamental Rules. The wider rule, that absence not covered by a grant of leave is dies non “for all purposes, viz., increment, leave and pension”, is an order of the Comptroller and Auditor General restated in paragraph 6 of Department of Personnel and Training OM No. 13026/3/2010-Estt.(Leave) dated 22 June 2010.

The term is Latin, a shortening of dies non juridicus, a day on which no legal business is transacted. The rules use it without defining it, among other places in FR 56(jj), where a period between premature retirement and reinstatement may be treated as dies non; Rule 27(3) of the CCS (Leave) Rules, 1972, which cuts the earned leave credit; and Rule 29(2)(d), which cuts the half pay leave credit. The working definition comes from the 2010 OM and the orders around it.

The consequences run to five separate heads of entitlement, and each is governed by a different instrument: pay under FR 17(1), the increment under FR 26, the leave account under Rules 27(3) and 29(2)(d), GPF subscription under Note 3 to Rule 7(1) of the General Provident Fund (Central Services) Rules, 1960, and allowances such as Children Education Allowance. A sixth question, whether the absence also breaks service, is answered by FR 17-A and by Rules 27 and 28 of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021, and the answer there can differ from the dies non order itself.

Meaning and source of dies non

Dies non means a day that does not count. A period ordered to be dies non is not duty, so no pay is earned, and it is not leave, so no leave salary is drawn and no leave is debited for it.

The operative statement is paragraph 6 of DoPT OM No. 13026/3/2010-Estt.(Leave) dated 22 June 2010, titled “Consolidated instructions on Regularization of Unauthorized Absence”. It records that the Comptroller and Auditor General “have issued orders that the period of absence not covered by grant of leave shall have to be treated as ‘dies non’ for all purposes, viz., increment, leave and pension.” The same paragraph adds that absence without leave standing on its own, and not in continuation of authorised leave, constitutes an interruption of service for pension, forfeiting past service unless the absence is regularised as leave without allowance.

A later consolidation, DoPT OM No. 13026/3/2012-Estt (Leave) dated 28 March 2013, lists four provisions for strict adherence on unauthorised absence: the proviso to FR 17(1), FR 17-A, Rule 25 of the CCS (Leave) Rules, and Rule 32(6) of the same rules read with the pension rule on commutation of absence. That OM does not use the words dies non at all. Its paraphrase of FR 17-A also drops “quasi-permanency” and “continuous”, so the rule text in the DoPT compilation of the Fundamental Rules is the version to cite.

Dies non is not a kind of leave. The CCS (Leave) Rules list the kinds of leave in Chapter IV, from earned leave under Rule 26 to extraordinary leave under Rule 32, and dies non is none of them. It is the absence of any leave order for the period.

Situations in which a period is treated as dies non

Four situations produce a dies non order in central government practice, and one situation that is often assumed to produce it does not.

Unauthorised absence by an individual

The ordinary case is a government servant who stays away without leave being sanctioned, or who deserts the post. DoPT OM No. 13026/3/2010-Estt.(Leave) dated 22 June 2010, paragraph 3, asks that in every such case the employee be informed of the consequences and directed to rejoin within a specified date, “say within three days”, failing which the employee “would be liable for disciplinary action” under the CCS (CCA) Rules, 1965. Paragraph 7 of the same OM allows leave of the kind applied for, due and admissible, only where the disciplinary authority is satisfied that the grounds for the absence are justified. Absence that is not so covered by leave falls under paragraph 6, which treats absence not covered by a grant of leave as dies non.

Overstayal of leave

Overstaying sanctioned leave is not dies non by default. Rule 25(1) of the CCS (Leave) Rules, 1972 provides that, unless the authority competent to grant leave extends it, a government servant who remains absent after the end of leave is entitled to no leave salary for the period, and that the period is debited against the leave account “as though it were half pay leave, to the extent such leave is due”, with any excess treated as extraordinary leave. Rule 25(2) makes wilful absence after the expiry of leave a ground for disciplinary action.

So Rule 25 prices the overstayal in leave, not in dies non. Rule 27(1)(b) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 treats the same situation consistently: unauthorised absence in continuation of authorised leave does not forfeit past service, so long as the absentee’s post has not been filled substantively.

Strike and concerted absence

Absence during a strike, a mass casual leave, a go-slow or a bandh is unauthorised absence, and FR 17-A treats it as a class of its own. The strike rules are covered in their own section below.

Intervening periods on reinstatement

FR 56(jj)(i) lets the authority ordering reinstatement of a servant who was retired prematurely regulate the intervening period “by the grant of leave of the kind due and admissible, including extraordinary leave, or by treating it as dies non depending upon the facts and circumstances of the case”. The proviso to FR 56(jj)(i) overrides that choice: the intervening period is duty for all purposes, including pay and allowances, where the authority holds that the premature retirement was not justified, or where a court sets the order aside, and FR 56(jj)(ii) makes a court’s own directions govern the period where it gives them. Suspension is the other route: Rule 29(2)(d) of the CCS (Leave) Rules names “a period of absence or suspension” treated as dies non, so a suspension period that is not regularised as duty or leave on reinstatement can end up as dies non.

Effect on pay and allowances

A period of dies non carries no pay. The proviso to FR 17(1) states that “an officer who is absent from duty without any authority shall not be entitled to any pay and allowances during the period of such absence.” That sentence covers basic pay, dearness allowance and every allowance paid as part of monthly emoluments for the days in question.

Each head of entitlement carries its own rule for a dies non period:

The GPF rule shows how dies non differs from extraordinary leave. A subscriber on extraordinary leave may elect not to subscribe during the leave; for a dies non period Note 3 to Rule 7(1) removes the subscription outright, with no election to make.

Paragraph 2(t) of the 2018 Children Education Allowance OM admits the allowance during duty, during suspension and during leave including extraordinary leave. A dies non period is the one status it excludes, so a single month of dies non in a claim year is carved out of an allowance that even a suspended servant keeps.

Effect on the annual increment

A period of dies non defers the annual increment. FR 26(a) provides that all duty in a post on a time scale counts for increments, and dies non is not duty. FR 26(b)(i) and (ii) extend the count to all leave except extraordinary leave taken otherwise than on a medical certificate, and dies non is not leave either. The proviso to FR 26(a) then adds “the total of all such periods as do not count for increment” to the normal date of increment.

Rule 10 of the CCS (Revised Pay) Rules, 2016 allows an increment only on 1 January or 1 July. Ten days of dies non between January and June, against a normal increment date of 1 July, give an FR 26 date of 11 July, which is not an increment date; the increment is then drawn on the next one, 1 January. That result is a reading of FR 26 together with Rule 10, not an express rule. The first increment after a promotion carries a separate six-month qualifying service condition, set by Department of Expenditure OM No. 4-21/2017-IC/E.III(A) dated 31 July 2018, and dies non does not count towards it. The date of next increment article works through the both-inclusive windows that decide which date applies.

A postponement of the increment is not a break in service. FR 26 moves the date on which the next increment is drawn. It does not cancel the service already rendered in the stage, and it does not forfeit anything. A period of dies non followed by an order of forfeiture of past service is a different event, governed by the pension rules below.

Effect on leave credits

Dies non reduces both half-yearly leave credits. Earned leave and half pay leave are both credited in advance on 1 January and 1 July, 15 days and 10 days respectively under Rules 26 and 29(1) of the CCS (Leave) Rules, 1972, and each rule carries a reduction clause for dies non in the preceding half-year.

• Earned leave. Rule 27(3), inserted by Ministry of Finance Notification No. 11012/1/77-E.IV(A) dated 21 November 1979, provides that where a government servant “has availed of extraordinary leave and/or some period of absence has been treated as dies non in a half-year”, the next credit is reduced by one-tenth of the period, subject to a maximum of 15 days. Rule 27(4) rounds fractions to the nearest day, and Rule 29(5) does the same for half pay leave.
• Half pay leave. Rule 29(2)(d), inserted by DoPT Notification No. 13014/1/87-Estt.(L) dated 16 June 1987, reduces the next half pay leave credit by one-eighteenth of a period of absence or suspension treated as dies non, subject to a maximum of 10 days.

The two clauses are not symmetrical. Rule 27(3) names extraordinary leave and dies non together, while Rule 29(2)(d) names dies non alone. A spell of extraordinary leave therefore trims the earned leave credit and leaves half pay leave untouched, and an equal spell of dies non cuts both.

The table below applies the two fractions to dies non periods in the January to June half-year, and shows the credits afforded on the following 1 July. It is a salary-calculator.in computation from the rule text, not a table printed in the rules.

An 18-day absence costs 2 days of earned leave, because 1.8 rounds to 2 under Rule 27(4). The earned leave reduction stops growing at 150 days, where one-tenth reaches the 15-day ceiling; the half pay leave reduction reaches its 10-day ceiling at 180 days. Because earned leave is also the balance encashed on retirement under Rule 39, each day lost from the credit is a day lost from the 300-day leave encashment ceiling if the account would otherwise have reached it.

Dies non, break in service and pension

Dies non and a break in service are different consequences, and a single absence can attract dies non with or without a forfeiture of past service. Dies non settles what the days themselves earn. The break question settles what happens to the service before them, and three instruments answer it.

FR 17-A: the deemed break for three purposes

FR 17-A provides that, without prejudice to the pension rule on interruption, a period of unauthorised absence in three classes “shall be deemed to cause an interruption or break in the service of the employee, unless otherwise decided by the competent authority for the purpose of leave travel concession, quasi-permanency and eligibility for appearing in departmental examinations, for which a minimum period of continuous service is required”. The three classes are:

1. for employees in industrial establishments, absence during a strike declared illegal under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 or any other law;
2. for other employees, absence resulting from action in combination or in a concerted manner, such as a strike, without authority or a valid reason to the satisfaction of the competent authority;
3. for an individual employee, remaining absent unauthorisedly or deserting the post.

Explanation 1 widens “strike” to general, token, sympathetic or similar strikes and to participation in a bandh. Explanation 2 makes the competent authority the appointing authority. The deemed break is therefore confined to leave travel concession, quasi-permanency and eligibility for departmental examinations, each of which turns on a period of continuous service, and the appointing authority can decide against it.

CCS (Pension) Rules 2021: interruption and condonation

Rule 27(1) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 provides that an interruption in service entails forfeiture of past service, except in five cases: authorised leave; unauthorised absence in continuation of authorised leave while the post is not filled substantively; suspension followed by reinstatement, or by death or retirement while suspended; transfer to non-qualifying service in the public interest; and joining time. Rule 27(2) lets the appointing authority commute periods of absence without leave retrospectively into extraordinary leave.

Rule 28 then softens Rule 27. Under Rule 28(1), in the absence of a specific contrary indication in the service book, an interruption between two spells of civil service is treated as automatically condoned and the pre-interruption service counts as qualifying service. Rule 28(2) excludes interruption caused by resignation, dismissal, removal, or participation in a strike. Rule 28(3) provides that the period of interruption itself never counts. Rule 28(5) allows a decision not to condone only in exceptional and grave circumstances, and Rule 28(6) requires a reasonable opportunity of representation and of being heard in person before any such decision.

Read together, the rules allow three outcomes for a period of unauthorised absence. Paragraph 6 of the 2010 OM states the default for absence standing on its own as forfeiture unless the absence is commuted into leave; Rule 28(1) states automatic condonation of an interruption between two spells of civil service unless the service book indicates otherwise. The table follows the rule text, and it is a salary-calculator.in reading of Rules 27 and 28.

Rule 28(5) confines the third row to exceptional and grave circumstances. Strike absence differs from individual absence only under the pension rules: FR 17-A gives the same deemed break to both, while Rule 28(2) removes automatic condonation for a strike alone.

Procedure before a dies non or break order

An order treating unauthorised absence as a break in service under FR 17-A is to be preceded by a hearing. DoPT OM No. 33011/2(S)/84-Estt.(B) dated 20/23 May 1985 records that an order invoking FR 17-A against Posts and Telegraphs employees was struck down by the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court because it was passed “without giving a reasonable opportunity of representation and being heard in person, if so desired”, and asks Ministries to keep in mind “the procedural requirement that an order under FR 17-A, etc., should be preceded by” that opportunity. A DoPT OM of the same number dated 10 March 1988 recorded an assurance to the Rajya Sabha Committee on Subordinate Legislation that the 1985 OM would be followed in every case of forfeiture for strike participation.

Rule 28(6) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 uses closely similar words, “a reasonable opportunity of representation and being heard in person”, for any order refusing to condone an interruption. The requirement follows from the principles of natural justice: an order that forfeits service or cuts pay for a period decides a civil consequence against the employee.

The sequence that the 2010, 2013 and 1985 OMs together recommend is:

1. On the absence, a letter informing the employee of the consequences and directing a return within a specified date, three days in the example the 2010 OM gives.
2. If the employee does not return, disciplinary action under the CCS (CCA) Rules, 1965, to be concluded quickly (2013 OM, paragraph 2(c)).
3. Before any order treating the absence as a break under FR 17-A, a notice and a personal hearing if asked for (1985 OM).
4. An order regularising the period as leave due, as extraordinary leave under Rule 32(6), or as dies non.

The Central Administrative Tribunal has intervened where step 3 was skipped. CAT Cuttack, in Ghanashyam Sah, OA No. 1056/2014 decided on 6 March 2019, held that a service book entry of a break in service implying forfeiture of past service, made without a hearing, “clearly violated the principles of natural justice and also violated the instructions of Government of India”, and allowed the application with directions.

Dies non and disciplinary action

Dies non and a disciplinary penalty are separate, and one does not exhaust the other. Rule 25(2) of the CCS (Leave) Rules makes wilful absence after leave a ground for disciplinary action; the 2010 and 2013 OMs direct that an absentee be proceeded against at once; and the DoPT strike OM of 12 September 2008 states that the pay deduction is “without prejudice to any disciplinary action”. Unauthorised absence is misconduct, and it can be charged under Rule 14 or Rule 16 of the CCS (CCA) Rules whatever order is made on the period.

Dies non is not among the nine penalties in Rule 11 of the CCS (CCA) Rules, which run from censure to dismissal.

The tribunals have not settled whether a disciplinary proceeding must come first. CAT Hyderabad, in J. Prasad Babu v. Department of Posts, OA No. 020/393/2020 decided on 21 January 2022, relied on a Director General (Posts and Telegraphs) letter of 5 October 1975, which says that condonation or dies non is to be considered only after the disciplinary proceedings conclude. The bench held that “for imposition of dies-non, disciplinary action has to be taken” and set aside an order made without it. CAT Bengaluru, in Ravish K.N. v. Ministry of Finance, OA No. 170/00471/2021 decided on 6 June 2024, upheld a dies non order made after a show cause notice dated 29 January 2020 and a personal hearing, with the separate conduct case closed with a warning. In both cases the tribunal examined whether notice and a hearing had preceded the order.

A contrary judicial view calls dies non a penalty. The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, in Abdul Rahim Ganai v. State of J&K, SWP No. 1155/2009 decided on 19 December 2023, held at paragraph 10 that an authority may direct wilful absence to be treated as dies non “but it would be as a measure of penalty” requiring an enquiry. That case concerned an employee of the J&K State Road Transport Corporation, not a central servant under FR 17-A, and it binds no central authority.

Strikes and the no work, no pay rule

Absence on strike is unauthorised absence under FR 17-A and draws no pay under FR 17(1). Rule 7 of the CCS (Conduct) Rules, 1964 prohibits a government servant from participating in any form of strike, and DoPT OM No. 33012/1(s)/2008-Estt(B)(Pt) dated 12 September 2008 spells out that the prohibition covers mass casual leave and go-slow.

Paragraph 3 of the 2008 OM is the operative instruction. Where employees strike or boycott work, “the salary of such employees for the day/days in question shall not be paid”, and the office must report the participants to the administrative Ministry “within 15 days of such incident for a decision on how to treat the unauthorized absence”. The OM does not itself pronounce dies non; it leaves the regularisation of the period to the Ministry, subject to FR 17-A and the pension rules.

DoPT reissues the instruction before each announced strike. OM No. 33011/1(s)/2023-Estt.(B-II) dated 16 August 2023, issued ahead of the 21 August 2023 demonstrations on the Old Pension Scheme, cites the proviso to FR 17(1), states that instructions “may be issued not to sanction Casual Leave or other kind of leave” during the strike, and asks that the names of participants be conveyed by the evening of the strike day. It states that “there is no statutory provision empowering the employees to go on strike”, which tracks the Supreme Court’s words in T.K. Rangarajan v. Government of Tamil Nadu, (2003) 6 SCC 581, decided on 6 August 2003.

Strike absence carries the FR 17-A deemed break for leave travel concession, quasi-permanency and departmental examinations that individual absence also carries. Two pension consequences are specific to strikes:

• Rule 28(2) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 excludes a strike interruption from automatic condonation.
• The 10 March 1988 DoPT OM ties the service book entry of forfeiture to the hearing required by the 1985 OM.

The Supreme Court held in Bank of India v. T.S. Kelawala, (1990) 4 SCC 744, decided on 4 May 1990, that wages may be deducted for undisputed concerted absence without holding an inquiry. That was a bank case. For a central servant the power to withhold pay is express in FR 17(1) and needs no such reasoning; the break and forfeiture consequences still need the 1985 hearing.

Continuous absence beyond five years

Absence that runs past five years ends in deemed resignation. Rule 12(1) of the CCS (Leave) Rules, 1972 bars leave of any kind for a continuous period exceeding five years. Rule 12(2), which the DoPT consolidation credits to Notification No. 13026/2/2010-Estt.(L) dated 29 March 2012, provides that unless the President decides otherwise, a government servant “who remains absent from duty for a continuous period exceeding five years other than on foreign service, with or without leave, shall be deemed to have resigned from the Government service”.

Two provisos limit the rule. A reasonable opportunity to explain the absence must be given before sub-rule (2) is invoked. And under a proviso added by DoPT Notification No. 18017/1/2014-Estt.(L) dated 3 April 2018, the rule does not apply where leave is applied for on a medical certificate in connection with a disability. Rule 26(1) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 provides that resignation from a service or post entails forfeiture of past service unless it is allowed to be withdrawn in the public interest.

FR 18 in the current DoPT compilation still carries only the five-year bar on leave, without the deemed-resignation limb; the operative text is Rule 12 of the Leave Rules.

Railway servants

Rule 1302 of the Indian Railway Establishment Code Volume II reproduces FR 17 for a railway servant, including the proviso that an officer absent from duty without any authority “shall not be entitled to any pay and allowances during the period of such absence”. The pay consequence of dies non is therefore identical on the railways. Chapter 13 of Volume II, rules 1301 to 1325, has no counterpart to FR 17-A, so the deemed-break rule for leave travel concession and departmental examinations is not found in that chapter.

Related Articles

• Extraordinary leave
• Half pay leave
• Earned leave
• Casual leave
• Commuted leave
• Leave not due
• CCS (Leave) Rules
• Leave encashment
• Fundamental Rules
• Annual increment
• Date of next increment
• Basic pay
• Dearness allowance
• Qualifying service
• Break in service
• CCS (Pension) Rules 2021
• Central government pension
• Service book
• Joining time
• Suspension
• Reinstatement
• Premature retirement
• Resignation from government service
• Technical resignation
• CCS (CCA) Rules
• Disciplinary authority
• Minor penalty
• Major and minor penalty proceedings
• Misconduct
• Principles of natural justice
• Central Administrative Tribunal
• CCS (Conduct) Rules
• Leave travel concession
• General Provident Fund
• Children Education Allowance
• Hostel Subsidy
• Old Pension Scheme
• Indian Railway Establishment Code
• Department of Personnel and Training

External references

• DoPT OM No. 13026/3/2010-Estt.(Leave), consolidated instructions on regularisation of unauthorised absence, 22 June 2010
• DoPT OM No. 13026/3/2012-Estt (Leave), action against government servants remaining away from duty without authorisation, 28 March 2013
• CCS (Leave) Rules, 1972, DoPT consolidated text updated to 24 September 2024
• Compilation of the Fundamental Rules and Supplementary Rules, Department of Personnel and Training
• CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021, Pensioners’ Portal
• Ministry of Jal Shakti circular of 18 August 2023 enclosing DoPT strike OMs of 12 September 2008 and 16 August 2023
• Indian Railway Establishment Code Volume II, Chapter XIII, rules 1301 to 1325

References

1. Fundamental Rules, FR 17(1) and its proviso (no pay and allowances for absence without authority), FR 17-A (deemed interruption for leave travel concession, quasi-permanency and departmental examinations, with Explanations 1 and 2), FR 26(a) and its proviso, FR 26(b)(ii), and FR 56(jj), DoPT compilation.
2. Department of Personnel and Training, OM No. 13026/3/2010-Estt.(Leave) dated 22 June 2010, Consolidated instructions on Regularization of Unauthorized Absence, paragraphs 2, 3, 6 and 7.
3. Department of Personnel and Training, OM No. 13026/3/2012-Estt (Leave) dated 28 March 2013, Consolidated instructions relating to action warranted against Government servants remaining away from duty without authorisation, paragraph 2.
4. Department of Personnel and Training, OM No. 33011/2(S)/84-Estt.(B) dated 20/23 May 1985 (opportunity of representation and personal hearing before an order under FR 17-A), and OM of the same number dated 10 March 1988, as printed below Rule 28 in the DoPT compilation of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972.
5. CCS (Leave) Rules, 1972: Rule 12 (as substituted by Notification No. 13026/2/2010-Estt.(L) dated 29 March 2012, with the proviso added by Notification No. 18017/1/2014-Estt.(L) dated 3 April 2018), Rule 25, Rule 27(3) (Notification No. 11012/1/77-E.IV(A) dated 21 November 1979), Rule 29(2)(d) (Notification No. 13014/1/87-Estt.(L) dated 16 June 1987), and Rule 32(6).
6. CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 (G.S.R. 868(E) dated 20 December 2021), Rules 26, 27 and 28.
7. Department of Personnel and Training, OM No. 33012/1(s)/2008-Estt(B)(Pt) dated 12 September 2008 and OM No. 33011/1(s)/2023-Estt.(B-II) dated 16 August 2023, on participation in strikes.
8. General Provident Fund (Central Services) Rules, 1960, Rule 7(1), Note 3; and DoPT OM No. A-27012/02/2017-Estt.(AL) dated 17 July 2018, paragraph 2(t).
9. T.K. Rangarajan v. Government of Tamil Nadu, (2003) 6 SCC 581, 6 August 2003; Bank of India v. T.S. Kelawala, (1990) 4 SCC 744, 4 May 1990.
10. Central Administrative Tribunal: Ghanashyam Sah, OA No. 1056/2014 (Cuttack), 6 March 2019; J. Prasad Babu v. Department of Posts, OA No. 020/393/2020 (Hyderabad), 21 January 2022; Ravish K.N. v. Ministry of Finance, OA No. 170/00471/2021 (Bengaluru), 6 June 2024.