Maternity leave (central government)

Maternity leave for a central government employee is 180 days of leave at full pay, granted to a woman government servant with fewer than two surviving children under Rule 43 of the CCS (Leave) Rules, 1972. Around it sits a family of related parental leaves in the same rules: paternity leave for the father, child adoption leave for a parent who adopts, and leave for a miscarriage. Together they make up the parental-leave provisions of central service, all paid at full salary and none debited to the ordinary leave account.

This article sets out the maternity leave itself and its conditions, the leave for a miscarriage and the special maternity leave on the loss of a child, paternity leave, and child adoption leave, with the salary and the interaction with other leave. It is the companion to child care leave , which is the separate, longer leave a parent takes to rear a child once it is born; maternity leave is the one-off leave around the birth itself, and the two should not be confused.

Maternity leave

Under Rule 43, a female government servant, including an apprentice and an unmarried servant, with fewer than two surviving children, may be granted maternity leave of 180 days from the date it begins. The leave salary is the pay drawn immediately before proceeding on leave, so it is full pay. The 180-day figure is the enhanced one: it was raised from 135 days to 180 days by the Department of Personnel and Training Office Memorandum dated 11 September 2008.

The two-surviving-children condition is a real limit: maternity leave under Rule 43 is not admissible to a woman who already has two or more surviving children. A judicial gloss is worth noting, though, since it recurs in practice: the Himachal Pradesh High Court held in 2025 that where the first two children were born before the woman joined service, maternity leave for a child born during service cannot be refused on the two-child bar, because the purpose of the leave is to support the woman during a confinement that occurs while she is in service. That is a court interpretation, not the text of the rule.

Maternity leave may be combined with leave of any other kind. Under Rule 43(4)(b), leave of the kind due and admissible, including commuted leave up to 60 days and leave not due, may be granted in continuation of maternity leave up to a maximum of two years, without a medical certificate. This is the provision under which a woman commonly takes child care leave after her maternity leave to care for the newborn, drawing on the separate 730-day child-care-leave pool. Maternity leave is not debited to the leave account under Rule 43(5), so earned leave and half-pay leave keep accruing during it.

Leave for a miscarriage, and special maternity leave

For a miscarriage, including an abortion, Rule 43(3) allows leave of up to 45 days in the entire service, on production of a medical certificate. This leave is not subject to the two-surviving-children condition, so it is available regardless of the number of children a woman has, which is a point commonly missed.

A separate provision covers the loss of a newborn. Under the Department of Personnel and Training Office Memorandum dated 2 September 2022, a woman government servant with fewer than two surviving children may be granted 60 days of special maternity leave in the case of the death of a child soon after birth, or a stillbirth, where the delivery was attended by an authorised institution. It was a humane addition to a framework that had previously left such a case without a dedicated leave.

Paternity leave

Under Rule 43-A, a male government servant with fewer than two surviving children may be granted 15 days of paternity leave during the confinement of his wife. The timing has a window: it may be availed from 15 days before to within six months of the date of delivery, and if it is not taken within that window it lapses. It is paid at full salary, is not debited to the leave account, and may be combined with other leave. Paternity leave was introduced for central government employees in 1999.

Child adoption leave

The rules provide separately for a parent who adopts. Under Rule 43-B, a female government servant with fewer than two surviving children who validly adopts a child below the age of one year may be granted 180 days of child adoption leave, from the date of the valid adoption. In continuation, leave of the kind due and admissible may be granted up to one year reduced by the age of the adopted child, whichever is earlier. The leave is not debited to the leave account, and it is not admissible to a servant who already has two surviving children.

The adopting father is covered by Rule 43-AA, which allows a male government servant with fewer than two surviving children 15 days of paternity leave on the valid adoption of a child below one year, to be taken within six months of the adoption. The enhancement of child adoption leave to 180 days and the male-adoption provision were made by the Department of Personnel and Training Office Memorandum dated 22 July 2009.

Salary and interaction with other leave

All four of these leaves, maternity, miscarriage, paternity and adoption, are paid at full leave salary, the pay drawn immediately before the leave. This is a clean contrast with child care leave , which is paid at 100 per cent for the first 365 days and then 80 per cent. And all of them are outside the earned-leave and half-pay-leave account, so earned leave keeps accruing during them, which protects the 300 days of earned leave a woman can encash at retirement, covered in leave encashment . Maternity leave and child care leave draw on separate pools, so taking maternity leave does not consume the child-care-leave quota, and a woman can take one after the other around the birth of a child.

The private-sector comparison

The government’s 180 days of maternity leave sits close to the private-sector entitlement. The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, as amended by the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017, gives 26 weeks, that is 182 days, of paid maternity leave for the first two children in the organised private sector, reducing to 12 weeks from the third child. The central government’s 180 days is therefore broadly aligned in duration with the 26 weeks of the private sector, though the two are governed by different laws, the CCS (Leave) Rules for government service and the Maternity Benefit Act for covered private establishments.

Common errors

• Confusing maternity leave with child care leave. Maternity leave under Rule 43 is the one-off 180 days around a birth; child care leave under Rule 43-C is the separate 730-day career pool for rearing a child.
• Assuming any male employee gets paternity leave. It needs fewer than two surviving children and must be taken within the window of 15 days before to six months after delivery, or it lapses.
• Thinking maternity leave is debited to the earned-leave account or stops earned-leave accrual. It is not, and it does not.
• Believing the two-surviving-children bar blocks miscarriage leave. It does not; Rule 43(3) carries no such condition.
• Assuming child adoption leave applies to a child of any age. It requires a child below one year, under Rules 43-B and 43-AA.
• Quoting 135 days for maternity leave. That is the pre-2008 figure, superseded by 180 days from the Office Memorandum dated 11 September 2008.

See also

• Child care leave
• Earned leave
• Leave encashment
• Leave Travel Concession
• CCS (Leave) Rules, 1972
• Central government pension
• Family pension
• Superannuation
• Annual increment
• National Pension System
• Technical resignation
• House-rent allowance
• Dearness allowance
• Transport allowance
• Take-home salary for central government employees
• Department of Personnel and Training
• Central government employees in India
• City classification for HRA
• Pay matrix
• Minimum pay
• Modified Assured Career Progression
• Commutation of pension
• Gratuity for central government employees
• Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare
• Old vs new tax regime
• 7th Central Pay Commission
• 7th CPC salary calculator

External references

• Department of Personnel and Training, CCS (Leave) Rules
• Press Information Bureau

References

1. CCS (Leave) Rules, 1972, Rule 43 (maternity leave), Rule 43-A (paternity leave), Rule 43-AA (paternity leave on adoption), and Rule 43-B (child adoption leave).
2. Department of Personnel and Training Office Memorandum No. 13018/1/2008-Estt.(L) dated 11 September 2008 (enhancement of maternity leave to 180 days).
3. Department of Personnel and Training Office Memorandum No. 13018/1/2009-Estt.(L) dated 22 July 2009 (child adoption leave enhanced to 180 days; paternity leave on adoption).
4. Department of Personnel and Training Office Memorandum dated 16 July 1999 (introduction of paternity leave).
5. Department of Personnel and Training Office Memorandum dated 2 September 2022 (60 days of special maternity leave on the death of a child soon after birth or a stillbirth).
6. Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, as amended by the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017 (26 weeks, for the private-sector comparison).