Special Disability Leave for Central Government Employees

Special disability leave gave up to 24 months for a duty-caused disability under CCS Leave Rules 44 and 45. WRIIL replaced it on 14 December 2018; AIS keep it.

Updated 8 October 2026

Key facts

Status for CCS employees: Replaced by work related illness and injury leave from 14 December 2018 (Rule 44 substituted, Rules 45 and 46 omitted)
Amending instrument: CCS (Leave) (Fourth Amendment) Rules 2018, DoPT Notification No. 11020/01/2017-Estt.(L) dated 11 December 2018
Former governing rules: Rule 44 (injury intentionally inflicted) and Rule 45 (accidental injury or duty illness), CCS (Leave) Rules 1972
Maximum: 24 months for any one disability (Rule 44(3) and 44(5))
Leave salary: Earned leave rate for the first 120 days, half pay leave rate after that (Rule 44(7))
Full pay option: A further 120 days at the earned leave rate, debited to the half pay leave account (Rule 44(7) proviso); not available under Rule 45, capped at 120 days by Rule 45(2)(iii)
Leave account and pension: Not debited to the leave account, counted as duty for pension (Rule 44(6))
Set-off: Reduced by compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Act 1923 or benefit under the ESI Act 1948 (Rule 44(8))
Still in force for: All India Services officers: rule 16, AIS (Leave) Rules 1955, and the AIS (Special Disability Leave) Regulations 1957

Special disability leave was a head of leave under Rules 44 and 45 of the CCS (Leave) Rules 1972 for a central government servant disabled by an injury or illness attributable to official duty or to official position. It allowed up to 24 months for any one disability, paid at the earned leave rate for the first 120 days and the half pay leave rate after that, was not debited to the leave account except for an optional extra 120 days charged to half pay leave, and counted as duty for pension. For CCS employees it ended on 14 December 2018, when the CCS (Leave) (Fourth Amendment) Rules 2018 substituted Rule 44 with work related illness and injury leave and omitted Rules 45 and 46.

The head is still live in one place. Officers of the All India Services draw special disability leave under rule 16 of the All India Services (Leave) Rules 1955 and the All India Services (Special Disability Leave) Regulations 1957, which the 2018 CCS amendment did not reach. Their version has a different medical gate and a different full-pay extension.

For a CCS employee the old rules still matter for three reasons: leave granted before 14 December 2018 was sanctioned and paid under them, service records and pension files carry the head, and the replacement leave copies its structure in places, including the compensation set-off. Its replacement followed the 7th Central Pay Commission report, and it is a different thing from a disability pension.

Rule 44 and Rule 45 compared

Rule 44 covered an injury inflicted on purpose; Rule 45 covered an accident or a duty-related illness, on stricter terms. Both rules applied to a government servant “whether permanent or temporary”, and the leave was granted by the authority competent to grant leave.

Feature	Rule 44	Rule 45
Cause	Injury “intentionally inflicted or caused in, or in consequence of the due performance of his official duties or in consequence of his official position”	Injury accidentally incurred in the same circumstances, or illness incurred in a particular duty that increased the liability to illness or injury “beyond the ordinary risk attaching to the civil post”
Medical certificate	Period certified by an authorised medical attendant (Rule 44(3))	Same, plus a disease had to be certified as “directly due to the performance of the particular duty” (Rule 45(2)(i))
Extra test	None	A disability contracted otherwise than with a military force had to be “exceptional in character” in the opinion of the sanctioning authority (Rule 45(2)(ii))
Full-pay period	120 days, plus up to 120 more at the employee’s option against half pay leave (Rule 44(7))	Not more than 120 days at the earned leave rate (Rule 45(2)(iii))
Mixing with other leave	Combinable with leave of any other kind (Rule 44(4))	The certified absence could be covered partly by this leave and partly by other leave (Rule 45(2)(iii))
Cap	24 months per disability (Rule 44(3), 44(5))	Same, borrowed from Rule 44 by Rule 45(1)

The “official position” limb in both rules reached an injury caused because of the office the employee held, as well as one sustained in the work itself. The CCS rules did not define the phrase; the parallel All India Services regulation, which does, lists an assault to deter a member of the Service from duty, or an injury inflicted because of something done in the lawful discharge of duty, or “because of his official position”.

The Rule 45 illness limb was narrow. Ordinary sickness, even sickness caught at work, did not qualify; the duty itself had to raise the risk above the ordinary risk of the post, and a medical certificate had to tie the disease to that duty. An illness outside that test had to be covered by other leave due, such as earned leave, half pay leave or commuted leave on a medical certificate.

Duration, leave salary and the leave account

Special disability leave under the CCS (Leave) Rules 1972 ran for the period an authorised medical attendant certified, never beyond 24 months in one grant (Rule 44(3)). It could be granted again if the disability was “aggravated or reproduced in similar circumstances” later, but Rule 44(5) held the total for any one disability to 24 months.

Leave salary came from Rule 44(7). For the first 120 days of any period of the leave, including a fresh grant for an aggravated disability, it equalled leave salary on earned leave. For the rest it equalled leave salary on half pay leave. The proviso let the employee opt for the earned leave rate “for a period not exceeding another 120 days”, and that period was then debited to the half pay leave account.

Rule 44(6) did two things. It counted the leave as duty in calculating service for pension, so a long spell did not reduce qualifying service. And it kept the leave off the leave account, the only exception being the optional extra 120 days charged to half pay leave. A note to Rule 44(7) let leave salary be apportioned between governments under the normal rules where the employee had served more than one.

Worked example: 300 days of special disability leave

Take a CCS employee granted 300 days of special disability leave under Rule 44 in 2017, with 200 days of half pay leave at credit.

Arrangement	Days at earned leave rate	Days at half pay leave rate	Half pay leave debited
Rule 44(7) without the option	120	180	0
Rule 44(7) with the proviso	240	60	120
Same 300 days under Rule 45	120	180	0

Under Rule 44 with the option, the employee drew full leave salary for 240 days and spent 120 days of half pay leave to do it, leaving 80 days at credit. Under Rule 45 the same absence could not go past 120 days at the earned leave rate, because Rule 45(2)(iii) capped it there; the employee’s alternative was to cover part of the certified absence with earned leave instead.

Medical gate, time limit and set-off against compensation

Special disability leave under Rule 44(2) required the disability to manifest itself within three months of the occurrence to which it was attributed, and the person disabled to act “with due promptitude in bringing it to notice”. The proviso let the authority competent to grant leave accept a disability that appeared more than three months later, if it was satisfied as to the cause.

Rule 44(8) stopped double payment for the same injury. It reduced leave salary in two cases:

For a person covered by the Workmen’s Compensation Act 1923 (later renamed the Employees’ Compensation Act), by the compensation payable under clause (d) of Section 4(1) of that Act.
For a person covered by the Employees’ State Insurance Act 1948, by the benefit payable under that Act for the corresponding period.

Rule 44(9) extended the rule to a civil servant disabled in consequence of service with a military force, whether discharged as unfit for military service but “not completely and permanently incapacitated for further civil service”, or not discharged but certified by a medical board as disabled by that service. Leave granted under military rules for the same disability was counted against the 24 month limit.

Special disability leave ended for CCS employees on 14 December 2018. The CCS (Leave) (Fourth Amendment) Rules 2018, issued under DoPT Notification No. 11020/01/2017-Estt.(L) dated 11 December 2018 and published as G.S.R. 1209(E), substituted Rule 44 with work related illness and injury leave and omitted Rule 45 and Rule 46 (hospital leave). The current DoPT compilation of the rules prints Rules 45 and 46 as “Omitted.”

The change came from the 7th Central Pay Commission report. At paragraph 9.2.35 the Commission recorded demands to remove the 24 month ceiling and pay full pay for the whole period. At paragraph 9.2.37 it recommended that “Hospital Leave, Special Disability Leave and Sick Leave should be subsumed in a new Leave named Work Related Illness and Injury Leave (WRIIL)”. The 2018 rule reproduces that recommendation closely, down to the six-month and twelve-month periods. A DoPT clarificatory Office Memorandum followed on 30 August 2019; the operative instrument is the December 2018 amendment.

Feature	Special disability leave (Rules 44 and 45, before 14 December 2018)	Work related illness and injury leave (Rule 44, from 14 December 2018)
Trigger	Injury or illness attributable to duty or official position	Illness or injury “attributable to or aggravated in the performance” of duty or in consequence of official position
Hospitalisation	Not distinguished under Rules 44 and 45; Rule 46 hospital leave covered Class IV and certain Class III staff in hazardous duties	Full pay and allowances for the entire period (Rule 44(1))
After hospitalisation, civilian employee	120 days at earned leave rate, then half pay, 24 month cap	Six months full pay and allowances, then 12 months half pay, commutable to full pay against half pay leave (Rule 44(2)(a))
Central Armed Police Forces	No separate provision in Rules 44 and 45	Officers: six months full pay and allowances, then 24 months on full pay only, without allowances; personnel below officer rank: full pay and allowances with no time limit (Rule 44(2)(b), (c))
Compensation set-off	Workmen’s Compensation Act and ESI Act (Rule 44(8))	Workmen’s Compensation Act only (Rule 44(3))
Leave credit during the leave	Not addressed	No earned leave or half pay leave credited (Rule 44(4))

For a long hospital stay the new leave pays more: under special disability leave the days in hospital counted against the 120 days at the earned leave rate, while work related illness and injury leave pays full pay for every hospital day before its six-month clock starts. The separate scales for the Central Armed Police Forces come from paragraph 9.2.37(3)(b) and (c) of the 7th CPC report, on the reasoning in paragraph 9.2.36 that the duties of civilians and uniformed forces differ.

Special disability leave in the All India Services

Special disability leave is still in force for officers of the Indian Administrative Service, the Indian Police Service and the Indian Forest Service. Rule 16 of the All India Services (Leave) Rules 1955 provides it, the All India Services (Special Disability Leave) Regulations 1957 (Notification No. 6/1/55-AIS(III) dated 15 July 1957) set its conditions, and rule 20 sets its leave salary. The CCS amendment of 2018 did not apply to these rules.

The AIS version tracks the old CCS rules on the three-month manifestation rule (regulation 3(1)(ii)), the 24 month total per disability (rule 16(3)), and the exclusion from the leave account (rule 16(2)). It departs from them on five points:

Who certifies. A medical board certifies the period, and an extension needs a fresh medical board certificate (regulation 3(2)). A disease claimed under the accident and duty-illness limb is also certified by a medical board (regulation 3(3)(i)). The CCS rules used an authorised medical attendant for both.
No cap on a single grant. CCS Rule 44(3) said a single grant “shall in no case exceed 24 months”. Regulation 3(2) sets no ceiling on one grant; only the 24 month total per disability in rule 16(3) applies.
The trigger. The leave is granted for a disability suffered “as a result of risk of office or special risk of office” (regulation 3(1)(i)), and the regulations define both. Risk of office excludes a risk common to human existence in India unless government service enhanced it, and includes a risk of injury caused by riots, civil disorders or commotions “arising out of and in the course of discharge of his duties” on a working day or a holiday. An officer travelling to or from a place of duty is treated as acting in the discharge of duty.
The exceptional-character test. For a disability contracted otherwise than with the Armed Forces, regulation 3(3)(ii) asks whether it is, in the opinion of Government, “so exceptional in character or in the circumstances of its occurrence as to justify such unusual treatment as the grant of this form of leave”. CCS Rule 45(2)(ii) asked the authority competent to sanction leave only whether it was “exceptional in character”.
The full-pay period. Rule 20(5) gives full leave salary for the first 120 days. Rule 20(6) then allows full leave salary at the officer’s option “for a further period limited to the number of days of earned leave due”, debiting half that number of days to the earned leave account. The CCS proviso instead allowed a flat 120 days debited to half pay leave. For an accident or duty-illness case, regulation 3(3)(iii) says a period on full pay “may be less than 120 days”, where CCS Rule 45(2)(iii) said it “shall not exceed 120 days”, so the AIS text does not shut off the rule 20(6) option the way the CCS rule shut off its proviso.

Special disability leave and disability pension

Special disability leave was paid absence while the employee remained in service; a disability pension is a pension award. The two can apply to the same injury at different stages: leave while the employee recovers, and a pension if the disability is assessed by a medical board as attributable to government service.

Disability pension and extraordinary pension for CCS employees are governed by the Central Civil Services (Extraordinary Pension) Rules 2023, which replaced the 1939 rules. Rule 10(7) of the 2023 Rules provides a constant attendant allowance for a pensioner assessed at 100% disability who is certified as completely dependent on others. An employee retired on medical grounds for an incapacity not attributable to service receives an invalid pension under the CCS (Pension) Rules 2021 instead. None of these awards changed when the leave head was replaced in 2018.

The First Schedule still lists the head

DoPT’s consolidated text of the CCS (Leave) Rules 1972, updated to 24 September 2024, still prints “Special Disability Leave” as serial 2 of the First Schedule (authorities competent to grant leave), naming the Ministry or Department, an Administrator, the Comptroller and Auditor General, the Head of Department, and any other authority that is the appointing authority. The same compilation prints Rules 45 and 46 as omitted and Rule 44 as work related illness and injury leave. The schedule entry describes who sanctions the leave; it does not revive it, because no rule in the 1972 Rules now provides special disability leave to a CCS employee.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What was special disability leave?

Special disability leave was a head of leave under Rules 44 and 45 of the CCS (Leave) Rules 1972 for a government servant, permanent or temporary, disabled by an injury or illness attributable to official duty or to official position. It allowed up to 24 months for any one disability, at the earned leave rate of leave salary for the first 120 days and the half pay leave rate after that, was not debited to the leave account, and counted as duty for pension. For CCS employees it ended on 14 December 2018, when work related illness and injury leave replaced it.

What was the difference between Rule 44 and Rule 45?

Rule 44 covered a disability from an injury intentionally inflicted or caused in, or in consequence of, the due performance of official duties or official position. Rule 45 applied Rule 44 to an injury accidentally incurred in the same circumstances, or to an illness incurred in a particular duty that raised the risk beyond the ordinary risk of the post, and added three conditions in Rule 45(2): a disease had to be certified as directly due to that duty, a disability contracted outside military service had to be exceptional in character, and full-pay leave was capped at 120 days.

How much leave salary was paid during special disability leave?

Under Rule 44(7) of the CCS (Leave) Rules 1972, leave salary equalled the earned leave rate for the first 120 days of any period of the leave and the half pay leave rate for the rest. Under the proviso, the employee could opt for the earned leave rate for up to another 120 days, with that period debited to the half pay leave account. A Rule 45 case was limited to 120 days at the earned leave rate by Rule 45(2)(iii), so the proviso did not extend it.

What was the maximum period of special disability leave?

24 months. Rule 44(3) of the CCS (Leave) Rules 1972 limited any grant to the period certified by an authorised medical attendant, and in no case beyond 24 months. Rule 44(5) allowed a fresh grant if the disability was aggravated or reproduced in similar circumstances later, but not more than 24 months in all in consequence of any one disability.

Was special disability leave debited to the leave account?

No, with one exception. Rule 44(6) of the CCS (Leave) Rules 1972 counted special disability leave as duty for pension and kept it off the leave account, except the extra full-pay period taken under the proviso to Rule 44(7)(b), which was debited to the half pay leave account.

Was there a time limit for claiming special disability leave?

Yes. Under Rule 44(2) the disability had to manifest itself within three months of the occurrence to which it was attributed, and the employee had to act with due promptitude in bringing it to notice. The proviso let the leave-sanctioning authority grant the leave for a disability that appeared later than three months, if it was satisfied as to the cause.

Was leave salary reduced if the employee received compensation?

Yes. Rule 44(8) reduced the leave salary by the compensation payable under clause (d) of Section 4(1) of the Workmen’s Compensation Act 1923 for a person to whom that Act applied, and by the benefit payable under the Employees’ State Insurance Act 1948 for the corresponding period for a person covered by that Act.

When was special disability leave abolished for central government employees?

From 14 December 2018. The CCS (Leave) (Fourth Amendment) Rules 2018, issued under DoPT Notification No. 11020/01/2017-Estt.(L) dated 11 December 2018 (G.S.R. 1209(E)), substituted Rule 44 with work related illness and injury leave and omitted Rule 45 and Rule 46 (hospital leave). The change implemented paragraph 9.2.37 of the 7th Central Pay Commission report.

How does work related illness and injury leave differ from special disability leave?

Work related illness and injury leave under the current Rule 44 pays full pay and allowances for the whole period of hospitalisation, then for a civilian employee full pay and allowances for six months and half pay for twelve months, with the half pay commutable to full pay by debiting half pay leave. Special disability leave had a flat 24 month cap per disability and only 120 days at the earned leave rate before the option. No earned leave or half pay leave is credited while on work related illness and injury leave.

Do IAS, IPS and IFoS officers still get special disability leave?

Yes. Rule 16 of the All India Services (Leave) Rules 1955 and the All India Services (Special Disability Leave) Regulations 1957 still provide it, because the 2018 CCS amendment did not apply to the All India Services. The AIS version differs: a medical board certifies the period, and beyond the first 120 days at full leave salary the officer may take further full leave salary up to the earned leave due, with half that number of days debited to the earned leave account under rule 20(6).

Is special disability leave the same as a disability pension?

No. Special disability leave was paid absence while the employee stayed in service. A disability pension is awarded under the Central Civil Services (Extraordinary Pension) Rules 2023, which replaced the 1939 rules, where a disability attributable to government service is assessed by a medical board, and it can carry a constant attendant allowance at 100% disability. The leave head changed in 2018; the pension award is a separate entitlement.

Who could sanction special disability leave?

The authority competent to grant leave under the First Schedule of the CCS (Leave) Rules 1972: the Ministry or Department, an Administrator, the Comptroller and Auditor General, the Head of Department, or any other authority that is the appointing authority. DoPT’s consolidated text of the rules updated to 24 September 2024 still prints that serial, although Rules 44 and 45 no longer provide the leave.

External references

References

CCS (Leave) Rules, 1972, Rule 44 as it stood before 14 December 2018 (special disability leave for injury intentionally inflicted): sub-rules (1) scope, (2) three-month manifestation and proviso, (3) authorised medical attendant certificate and 24 month limit, (4) combination, (5) repeat grant and 24 months per disability, (6) duty for pension and leave account, (7) leave salary and proviso, (8) Workmen’s Compensation Act 1923 and ESI Act 1948 set-off, (9) military service. DoPT compilation, ccs_leave_rules_0.pdf.
CCS (Leave) Rules, 1972, Rule 45 as it stood before 14 December 2018 (special disability leave for accidental injury), sub-rules (1) and (2)(i) to (iii). Same compilation.
CCS (Leave) (Fourth Amendment) Rules, 2018, DoPT Notification No. 11020/01/2017-Estt.(L) dated 11 December 2018, G.S.R. 1209(E), effective 14 December 2018: Rule 44 substituted (work related illness and injury leave), Rules 45 and 46 omitted. Consolidated text in DoPT’s CCS (Leave) Rules compilation updated to 24 September 2024, including the First Schedule.
Report of the 7th Central Pay Commission, November 2015, paragraphs 9.2.34 to 9.2.37 (special disability leave and the recommendation for work related illness and injury leave).
All India Services (Leave) Rules, 1955, rules 16 and 20(5) to (7); All India Services (Special Disability Leave) Regulations, 1957, Notification No. 6/1/55-AIS(III) dated 15 July 1957, regulation 3.
Central Civil Services (Extraordinary Pension) Rules, 2023, rule 10(7) (constant attendant allowance).