Quarantine Leave for Central Government Employees

Quarantine leave is a legacy Fundamental Rules category, not in the CCS (Leave) Rules 1972, for infection in the family or household, up to 21 days on full pay.

Updated 21 July 2026 · Reviewed by Salary-Calculator.in

Quarantine leave, for central government employees, is a leave of absence necessitated by an order not to attend office because of the presence of an infectious disease in the family or household of the government servant. It is a legacy category of the Fundamental Rules and Supplementary Rules , not a head of the CCS (Leave) Rules 1972 , and it is not an active named entitlement for central government civilian employees today.

The distinction that defines quarantine leave is simple: it is for infection in the household, not the employee’s own illness. A government servant whose child has cholera, and who is therefore told by a health officer to stay away from the office so as not to carry the infection to colleagues, is the classic case. If the government servant themselves falls ill, that is a matter for sick leave through half pay leave or commuted leave, not quarantine leave.

Because it comes from the Fundamental Rules rather than the 1972 rules, quarantine leave has a different character from the ordinary kinds of leave. It is treated as duty rather than as leave: the pay is not intermitted, and within its limit it is not debited to the leave account. This article sets out what quarantine leave is, why it does not appear in the CCS (Leave) Rules 1972, the diseases and the duration, how the central government actually handled isolation during COVID-19, and how quarantine leave compares with special casual leave and sick leave.

What quarantine leave is

Quarantine leave is leave granted to a government servant who is directed to remain away from duty because an infectious disease is present in the employee’s family or household. The purpose is public health inside the office: an employee living with an infectious case is kept away so that the disease does not spread to colleagues. The leave is not a benefit the employee claims for their own sickness; it is a protective measure ordered in the interest of the workplace.

It is sanctioned by the Head of Office, on the certificate of the authorised medical officer or the public health officer, who states that the employee should be kept away from duty and for how long. The certificate is the trigger and the limit: without it, there is no quarantine leave, and the period the officer certifies fixes how long the leave runs.

Not a head in the CCS (Leave) Rules 1972

The kinds of leave available to central government civilian employees are set out in the CCS (Leave) Rules 1972: earned leave , half pay leave and commuted leave as the earned kinds, casual leave outside the leave account, and a set of special kinds such as maternity, paternity, and, until 2018, special disability and hospital leave. There is no head of quarantine leave anywhere in these rules.

Quarantine leave belongs to an older framework. It is a creature of the Fundamental Rules and the Supplementary Rules that governed leave before the CCS (Leave) Rules 1972 were made, and it was not carried forward into the 1972 rules for central government civilian employees. It survives today mainly in the service rules of some State governments, which reproduced the old Fundamental Rules text and kept quarantine leave as a live category for their own staff. For a central government civilian employee, the category exists in the background of the rules’ history rather than as a current entitlement to be applied for.

The trigger: infection in the family or household

The condition for quarantine leave is that an infectious disease is present in the family or household of the government servant, and that the employee is on that account directed to stay away from duty. The employee need not be ill. The leave answers the risk that a healthy employee living with an infectious case will carry the infection into the office.

This is what separates quarantine leave from every other kind of leave for illness. Half pay leave, commuted leave and, for a duty-caused condition, work-related illness and injury leave all turn on the employee’s own health. Quarantine leave turns on the health of the household and the risk to the office, which is why it is treated as duty rather than as the employee’s own sickness absence.

The infectious diseases covered

The classic Fundamental Rules list of diseases for which quarantine leave is admissible is cholera, smallpox, plague, diphtheria, typhus fever and cerebro-spinal meningitis. These are the notified infectious diseases where the presence of a case in the household justifies keeping a healthy employee away from the office.

Chicken pox is a specific exclusion. Quarantine leave is not to be granted for chicken pox, with one qualification: where the health officer is in doubt whether a case is really smallpox rather than chicken pox, the officer may still consider quarantine warranted. Some State rules that retain quarantine leave extend the list beyond the classic diseases, add further conditions for food handlers, and a few have added modern infections such as SARS, MERS and COVID-19 by later notification. For the central government, the governing list is the Fundamental Rules list, since the category is not restated in the 1972 rules.

Duration, pay and the leave account

The normal maximum period of quarantine leave is 21 days. In exceptional circumstances it may be extended to a total of 30 days, on the certificate of the medical or public health officer. The certificate governs the actual period within these limits; the limits cap it.

Quarantine leave is treated as a period during which the employee is not absent from duty. The pay is not intermitted, so the employee draws full pay, and within the admissible maximum the period is not debited to the leave account . A period of absence in excess of the 21 or 30 day maximum is not quarantine leave: it is treated as ordinary leave and charged to the leave account, or granted as extraordinary leave if no leave is at credit. Because the period is treated as duty, it does not create a gap in qualifying service for pension.

If the employee themselves is infected

Quarantine leave stops at the household. If the government servant themselves contracts the infectious disease, quarantine leave is no longer the right head, because the employee is now ill rather than merely exposed. The absence is then met by half pay leave or commuted leave on a medical certificate, in the ordinary way for sick leave .

For an illness or injury attributable to, or aggravated in, the performance of official duty, the head is work-related illness and injury leave under Rule 44, which since the CCS (Leave) (Fourth Amendment) Rules 2018 has subsumed the former hospital leave and special disability leave . None of these is quarantine leave, and an employee who falls ill during a household quarantine moves from the quarantine head to the sickness head from the date of their own illness.

COVID-19: what the central government actually did

COVID-19 is the obvious modern test of quarantine leave, and it is where the difference between the legacy category and current practice is clearest. The central government did not revive statutory quarantine leave for COVID-19. It issued bespoke relaxations of the CCS (Leave) Rules 1972 through the Department of Personnel and Training .

The Department of Personnel and Training Office Memorandum No. 11013/9/2014-Estt.(A-III), dated 19 March 2020, set out preventive measures, staggered attendance and work-from-home rosters as a relaxation of the leave rules at the start of the pandemic. The later Office Memorandum No. 13020/1/2019-Estt.(L), dated 7 June 2021, dealt with the isolation period directly: a COVID-positive employee in home isolation was allowed commuted leave up to 20 days on production of the COVID-positive report, without a medical certificate; where commuted leave was not available, special casual leave up to 15 days plus 5 days of earned or half pay leave; and extraordinary leave beyond that. These were dispensations under the CCS (Leave) Rules, not quarantine leave, and they lapsed with the pandemic-specific instructions rather than establishing a standing quarantine head.

Quarantine leave, special casual leave and sick leave compared

The three heads a reader is most likely to confuse are quarantine leave, special casual leave and sick leave. Special casual leave is an administrative concession granted by executive instruction, not under the CCS (Leave) Rules, and it is not debited to the leave account; it was the instrument the central government reached for during COVID-19. Sick or medical leave is the employee’s own illness route through half pay leave or commuted leave, and it is debited to the leave account.

Quarantine leave sits apart from both. It is a Fundamental Rules category for infection in the household, sanctioned on a health officer’s certificate, treated as duty and not debited within its limit. The practical point for a central government employee today is that the modern equivalents they will actually be granted are special casual leave or commuted leave, applied under current instructions, rather than a formal grant of quarantine leave.

Where quarantine leave still applies

Quarantine leave is not merely historical everywhere. Several State governments retained the Fundamental Rules text and continue to grant quarantine leave to their own employees, sometimes with an extended list of diseases and specific provisions for food handlers, and some updated the list for modern infections during the pandemic. An employee of a State government, a local body or an organisation that follows the old Fundamental Rules should check their own service rules, where quarantine leave may still be a live entitlement on the classic terms.

Applicability

For central government civilian employees under the CCS (Leave) Rules 1972, quarantine leave is not a current head; the rules do not provide it, and household infection is handled in practice through special casual leave or the ordinary sickness leaves. The Fundamental Rules category survives for employees governed by service rules that retained it, chiefly in some States. An employee confirms the position under the rules that govern their own service before assuming a right to quarantine leave.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Is quarantine leave part of the CCS (Leave) Rules 1972?

No. There is no head of quarantine leave in the CCS (Leave) Rules 1972. Quarantine leave is a legacy category of the Fundamental Rules and Supplementary Rules that predate the 1972 rules and was not carried forward into them for central government civilian employees. It survives mainly in the service rules of some State governments that reproduce the old text. For the central government it is not an active named entitlement today.

When is quarantine leave granted?

Quarantine leave is granted when a government servant is ordered to stay away from office because of the presence of an infectious disease in the family or household, so that the employee does not carry the infection into the workplace. It is not for the employee’s own illness. It is sanctioned by the Head of Office on the certificate of a medical officer or public health officer.

Which diseases qualify for quarantine leave?

The classic Fundamental Rules list is cholera, smallpox, plague, diphtheria, typhus fever and cerebro-spinal meningitis. Chicken pox is not a qualifying disease unless the health officer, in doubt whether the case is really smallpox, considers quarantine warranted. Some State rules extend the list, including for food handlers, and a few added SARS, MERS and COVID-19 by later notification.

How long is quarantine leave?

The normal maximum is 21 days. In exceptional circumstances it may be extended to a total of 30 days on the certificate of the medical or public health officer. Any period of absence beyond the admissible maximum is not quarantine leave; it is treated as ordinary leave and debited to the leave account or granted as extraordinary leave.

Is quarantine leave paid, and is it debited to the leave account?

Quarantine leave is treated as not being absent from duty, so the pay is not intermitted and the employee draws full pay for the period. Within the admissible maximum it is not debited to the leave account. Only a period in excess of the 21 or 30 day limit is charged to ordinary leave.

What if the government servant themselves contracts the infectious disease?

Quarantine leave does not apply to the employee’s own illness. If the government servant themselves falls ill, the absence is met by half pay leave or commuted leave on a medical certificate, and, for an illness or injury attributable to the performance of duty, by work-related illness and injury leave under Rule 44. Quarantine leave protects only against infection in the household.

Was COVID-19 isolation treated as quarantine leave?

No. The central government did not revive statutory quarantine leave for COVID-19. Under the Department of Personnel and Training Office Memorandum dated 7 June 2021, a COVID-positive employee in home isolation was allowed commuted leave up to 20 days on production of the positive report without a medical certificate; where commuted leave was not available, special casual leave up to 15 days plus 5 days of earned or half pay leave, and extraordinary leave beyond that. These were relaxations of the CCS (Leave) Rules, not quarantine leave.

How is quarantine leave different from special casual leave?

Special casual leave is an administrative concession, granted by executive instruction rather than under the CCS (Leave) Rules, and is not debited to the leave account. Quarantine leave is a specific disease-and-household category from the Fundamental Rules, sanctioned on a health officer’s certificate. During COVID-19 the central government used special casual leave and commuted leave, not quarantine leave.

How is quarantine leave different from sick leave and hospital leave?

Sick or medical leave, taken through half pay leave or commuted leave on a medical certificate, is for the employee’s own illness and is debited to the leave account. Hospital leave and, since 2018, work-related illness and injury leave under Rule 44 are for an illness or injury arising from the nature of the employee’s duties. Quarantine leave is different from all three: it is for infection in the household, not the employee’s own illness.

External references

References

Central Civil Services (Leave) Rules, 1972 (S.O. 940 dated 8 April 1972): the rules contain no head of quarantine leave; the special kinds of leave are in Chapter V, Rules 43 to 49.
Fundamental Rules and Supplementary Rules (the leave framework preceding the CCS (Leave) Rules 1972), quarantine leave provision: leave of absence necessitated by orders not to attend office in consequence of the presence of an infectious disease in the family or household; normal maximum 21 days, extendable to 30 days in exceptional circumstances on a medical or public health officer’s certificate; treated as not absent from duty, with the excess over the maximum charged to ordinary leave.
Fundamental Rules, the notified infectious diseases (cholera, smallpox, plague, diphtheria, typhus fever, cerebro-spinal meningitis) and the exclusion of chicken pox unless the health officer suspects smallpox.
Department of Personnel and Training, Office Memorandum No. 11013/9/2014-Estt.(A-III), dated 19 March 2020 (preventive measures against COVID-19 and relaxation of the CCS (Leave) Rules 1972).
Department of Personnel and Training, Office Memorandum No. 13020/1/2019-Estt.(L), dated 7 June 2021 (treatment of the hospitalisation and quarantine period during COVID-19: commuted leave up to 20 days on a COVID-positive report; special casual leave up to 15 days with 5 days of earned or half pay leave where commuted leave is not available; extraordinary leave beyond).