Vacation Department Leave for Central Government Employees

Vacation department staff, such as teachers, earn leave under Rule 28: the vacation is duty, and since 2018 they earn 10 to 30 days of earned leave a year.

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

Vacation department leave, for central government employees, is the special way earned leave is worked out for staff who serve in a Vacation Department, that is a department, such as a school or college, to which regular vacations are allowed. It is governed by Rule 28 of the CCS (Leave) Rules 1972 , which sits alongside the definition of a vacation department in Rule 3(1)(m). The point of the rule is that a teacher already receives a long paid break in the form of the vacation, so the earned leave they accrue is adjusted to reflect how much of that vacation they actually take.

Two ideas carry the whole subject. First, the vacation itself is treated as duty, not leave: under Fundamental Rule 82(b) the employee is on full pay during the vacation and nothing is debited to the leave account. Second, since the CCS (Leave) (Fourth Amendment) Rules 2018, vacation department staff earn ordinary earned leave rather than half pay leave , on a sliding scale tied to the vacation. This article sets out what a vacation department is, how the vacation is treated, how much earned leave the rule gives, the change the 2018 amendment made, and how the position differs from departmental leave under Rule 49, with which it is often confused.

What a Vacation Department is

Rule 3(1)(m) of the CCS (Leave) Rules 1972 defines a Vacation Department as a department, or a part of a department, to which regular vacations are allowed, and during which the government servants serving in it are permitted to be absent from duty. The word “vacation” is not separately defined in the rules; it is the fixed recess prescribed for the department, such as the summer vacation of a school or college.

Whether a post is in a vacation department is a functional question: does the post carry a regular vacation. The government recognises a department, or a part of a department, as a vacation department on that basis. There is no single schedule inside the leave rules listing every vacation department, so an employee confirms the status of their own post from the terms on which it is held.

The vacation is treated as duty, not leave

The most important thing to grasp is that the vacation is not a kind of leave. Under Fundamental Rule 82(b) a period of vacation is treated as duty. The employee draws full pay for it, it is not debited to the leave account, and it does not consume any earned leave or other leave. A teacher enjoying the summer vacation is therefore on full salary, on duty in the technical sense, and not spending any leave to do so.

This is why the earned leave rule for vacation departments is built the way it is. Because the employee already gets a long paid recess that costs them no leave, the earned leave they build up for the year is scaled to the part of the vacation they could not take. The vacation and the earned leave are two different things, and the rule links them only to decide how much earned leave to credit.

How earned leave works in a Vacation Department (Rule 28)

Rule 28 gives a vacation department employee earned leave in two parts. The base credit under Rule 28(1)(a) is 10 days of earned leave a year, credited in advance in two instalments of 5 days each on 1 January and 1 July, regardless of the vacation. On top of that, Rule 28(1)(b) gives additional earned leave in respect of any year in which the employee avails only a portion of the vacation, in the proportion that 20 days bears to the vacation not taken, subject to the total earned leave credited for the year not exceeding 30 days.

The result is a simple sliding scale. An employee who takes the full vacation earns 10 days for the year. One who takes none of the vacation earns 30 days, the same as staff of a non-vacation department under Rule 26 . One who takes half the vacation earns the 10 day base plus half of 20 days, that is 20 days in all. The more of the vacation the employee is unable to take, the closer the earned leave rises towards the full 30 days.

A related note in the rule settles when an employee counts as having taken the vacation. An employee is treated as having availed the vacation, or a portion of it, unless a higher authority by general or special order required them to forgo it. If such an order prevented the employee from enjoying more than 15 days of the vacation, the employee is treated as having availed no portion of the vacation at all, and so earns the full 30 days for the year. This protects a teacher who is called to duty during the recess.

The 2018 change: earned leave in place of half pay leave

Until December 2018 the rule was different, and many online copies of the leave rules still show the old text. Under the earlier Rule 28, a vacation department employee who availed the full vacation earned no earned leave at all for that year, with a proportion of 30 days where only part of the vacation was taken. Half pay leave was the main leave such staff built up.

The CCS (Leave) (Fourth Amendment) Rules 2018, notified as G.S.R. 1209(E) on 11 December 2018 and effective from 14 December 2018, substituted the rules so that vacation department staff are credited with earned leave in place of half pay leave. Rule 29, which credits half pay leave, was substituted to exclude a government servant serving in a vacation department from the half pay leave credit. Since commuted leave is drawn from the half pay leave account, it does not arise for vacation department staff in the ordinary way. This is the same amendment that introduced work-related illness and injury leave under Rule 44, so December 2018 is a common date across several leave heads.

Combining vacation with leave, and the accumulation ceiling

Rule 28(2) allows the vacation to be taken in combination with, or in continuation of, any kind of leave under the rules, provided the total duration of the vacation and the earned leave taken together does not exceed the earned leave due and admissible to the employee at that time. A teacher can therefore prefix or suffix earned leave to the vacation, subject to that aggregate limit, to make a longer continuous break.

The accumulation of earned leave is capped in the same way as for other staff. Under Rule 28(3) the earned leave carried forward, together with the credit for a half year, cannot exceed 300 days. So although a vacation department employee earns less earned leave in a year when they take the full vacation, the 300 day ceiling that governs leave encashment on retirement is the same as for everyone else.

The other leaves a vacation department employee can take

Only earned leave is worked out differently for vacation department staff. The rest of the leave scheme applies to them as it does to other government servants. Extraordinary leave is available on the same basis, since it is not linked to the half pay leave account. Child care leave , maternity and paternity leave, and work-related illness and injury leave under Rule 44 all apply generally. Casual leave , which is not leave under the rules at all, is also available, and it can be combined with a vacation because both are treated as duty.

What a vacation department employee does not build up, after the 2018 amendment, is half pay leave, and with it the commuted leave that is drawn from the half pay leave account. In its place they have the earned leave that Rule 28 credits. For a teacher planning a long absence, earned leave and extraordinary leave are the heads to look to, not half pay leave.

Who serves in a Vacation Department

The central government staff who serve in vacation departments are mainly the teaching staff of centrally run educational institutions. Teachers of the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan and the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti , and the teaching staff of central universities and government colleges that keep a prescribed vacation, are the usual examples. Their pay is set on the ordinary pay matrix, and their leave follows Rule 28, which is why a KVS teacher or an NVS teacher sees a smaller earned leave credit in a year when the full vacation is taken.

Not every employee at such an institution is in the vacation department. Ministerial and administrative staff who do not enjoy the teaching vacation are in the non-vacation category and earn 30 days of earned leave a year under Rule 26. The test is always whether the particular post carries the regular vacation.

Not the same as departmental leave (Rule 49)

Vacation department leave is frequently confused with departmental leave, and the two are unrelated. The vacation department rules, in Rule 3(1)(m) and Rules 26 to 28, are about how earned leave accrues for staff who receive regular vacations. Departmental leave, in Rule 49 , is a separate special kind of leave, a paid standby granted to the seasonal field staff of certain departments such as the Survey of India, at a reduced rate of leave salary and not debited to the ordinary leave account.

The two share nothing beyond both being in the CCS (Leave) Rules. One is a method of earning ordinary leave for teachers; the other is a distinct standby leave for field staff between working seasons. An article, an order or a query that treats them as the same thing has gone wrong at the start.

Applicability

The vacation department rules apply to central government civilian employees whose posts are in a department, or part of a department, to which regular vacations are allowed, chiefly the teaching staff of centrally run schools and colleges. Their earned leave is governed by Rule 28, the vacation is treated as duty under Fundamental Rule 82(b), and since 14 December 2018 they earn earned leave in place of half pay leave. Members of the All India Services and employees of State governments and autonomous bodies are governed by their own leave rules, which often track the central provision. An employee confirms the position under the rules that govern their own service.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is a vacation department?

A vacation department is defined in Rule 3(1)(m) of the CCS (Leave) Rules 1972 as a department, or part of a department, to which regular vacations are allowed and during which the government servants serving in it are permitted to be absent from duty. The obvious examples are centrally run schools and colleges, where the teaching staff have a prescribed vacation such as the summer vacation.

Do teachers in a vacation department get earned leave?

Yes. Under Rule 28 of the CCS (Leave) Rules 1972, a government servant serving in a vacation department is credited with 10 days of earned leave a year as a base, in two instalments of 5 days on 1 January and 1 July, plus additional earned leave in proportion to the vacation not taken, so that the total earned leave for the year does not exceed 30 days. The exact credit depends on how much of the vacation the employee actually availed.

How much earned leave does a teacher get if they take the full vacation?

If a vacation department employee avails themselves of the full vacation in a year, they earn only the base credit of 10 days of earned leave for that year. The logic is that the vacation itself is a long paid break, so the earned leave is scaled down when the whole vacation is taken.

What if a teacher takes no vacation, or only part of it?

If the employee is not able to take any of the vacation, they earn earned leave on the same footing as non-vacation staff, that is 30 days for the year under Rule 26. If they take only part of the vacation, they get the 10 day base plus a proportion of 20 days measured by the vacation not taken, capped at a total of 30 days. Availing half the vacation, for example, gives 10 plus 10, that is 20 days.

Is the vacation itself counted as leave?

No. The vacation is treated as duty under Fundamental Rule 82(b): the employee draws full pay during it, and it is not leave and is not debited to the leave account. This is why a teacher on vacation is on full salary without any leave being consumed, and why the earned leave rules for vacation departments are written the way they are.

Do vacation department employees get half pay leave?

Not since 14 December 2018. The CCS (Leave) (Fourth Amendment) Rules 2018 substituted the earned-leave and half-pay-leave rules so that a government servant serving in a vacation department is credited with earned leave in place of half pay leave, and Rule 29 now excludes vacation department staff from the half pay leave credit. Because commuted leave is drawn from the half pay leave account, it does not arise for them in the ordinary way either.

Can the vacation be combined with earned leave?

Yes. Under Rule 28(2) the vacation may be taken in combination with, or in continuation of, any kind of leave under the rules, provided that the total duration of the vacation and the earned leave taken together does not exceed the earned leave due and admissible to the employee at that time. So a teacher can add earned leave to the vacation within that limit.

Who serves in a vacation department?

The main central government examples are the teaching staff of centrally run educational institutions: teachers of the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan and the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti, and the teaching staff of central universities and government colleges that have a prescribed vacation. Whether a particular post is in a vacation department depends on whether regular vacations are allowed for it, as recognised by the government.

Is vacation department leave the same as departmental leave under Rule 49?

No. They are different provisions that are easy to confuse. The vacation department rules (Rule 3(1)(m) and Rules 26 to 28) are about how earned leave accrues for staff who get regular vacations. Departmental leave under Rule 49 is a separate special leave, a paid standby for the seasonal field staff of certain departments such as the Survey of India, at a reduced rate of leave salary and not debited to the ordinary leave account.

External references

References

Central Civil Services (Leave) Rules, 1972, Rule 3(1)(m) (definition of a Vacation Department) and Rule 2 (extent and application).
CCS (Leave) Rules, 1972, Rule 26 (earned leave for government servants serving in departments other than vacation departments, 30 days a year) and Rule 27 (calculation of earned leave).
CCS (Leave) Rules, 1972, Rule 28 as substituted by the CCS (Leave) (Fourth Amendment) Rules, 2018: Rule 28(1)(a) (10 days a year, credited 5 days each on 1 January and 1 July), Rule 28(1)(b) (additional earned leave in proportion of 20 days to the vacation not taken, total not exceeding 30 days), Rule 28(2) (combination of vacation with leave) and Rule 28(3) (accumulation up to 300 days).
CCS (Leave) (Fourth Amendment) Rules, 2018, G.S.R. 1209(E), notified 11 December 2018 and effective 14 December 2018 (substituting Rules 28 and 29 so that vacation department staff earn earned leave in place of half pay leave; Rule 29 excludes vacation department staff from the half pay leave credit).
Fundamental Rule 82(b) (a period of vacation is treated as duty; full pay is drawn and it is not debited to the leave account) and CCS (Leave) Rules, 1972, Rule 49 (departmental leave, a separate special leave for the seasonal field staff of certain departments).