Powers of competent authority to decide nature of leave
A Government servant cannot be compelled against his wishes to take leave on half average pay when leave on full average pay is admissible to him. These orders must not be interpreted as interfering with the discretion entrusted to an authority competent to grant leave to determine whether leave should or should not be granted.
[C.A.G.'s letter No. 588-A-72/73, Dt. 26/30-4-1923 and No. 153-A 70/32, Dt. 6-7-1932]
General : —Leave is a privilege of the Government servants as well as the workers and others employed in industrial establishments. Leave is of different kinds : earned leave ; medical leave ; leave on private affairs etc., Government servants are also entitled to quarantine leave in case of infectious diseases like small pox, chicken pox etc.
Right to leave : —F.R. 67 lays down that leave cannot be claimed as of right. When exigencies of the public service so require, discretion to refuse or revoke leave of any description is reserved to the authority empowered to grant it. The theory that leave is not a right is now a fast dwindling concept. Leave is a right recognised by law in the case of workers and other industrial establishments and this right is recognised in practice in the case of Government servants as well. The theory that leave cannot be claimed as of right under F.R. 67 is only of limited scope. The right to refuse or revoke leave can be exercised by the competent authority only in exigencies of public service. The discretion to refuse or revoke leave has to be exercised with circumspection and only on valid grounds. It is now well settled that a discretionary power should be exercised with care and caution but not in an arbitrary or capricious manner. Therefore we can conclude that leave is a matter of right even with regard to Government servants with the qualification that it can be refused or revoked only in public interest.
Leave refused :—As already stated, while a Government servant has got a right to leave under the rules he cannot claim that he can utilise the leave whenever he wants in derogation to public interest. Where leave has been refused and no malafide intention towards the employer is proved, the order refusing leave cannot be said to be illegal or violative of rules, Sukumar vs. State of W.B. , (1977) I SLR 775 (Cal.) .
