Casual leave rules in India, state by state
Casual leave is short paid leave for personal work that cannot wait: a school visit, a repair, a document to sign. Each state sets its own number in its Shops and Establishments Act, from 6 days in Goa to 14 in Chhattisgarh. Rajasthan and Odisha have no casual leave in their acts at all. If you run one policy across offices in more than one state, check the table below before you fix the number.
Last updated 12 September 2026.
How many casual leaves does each state give?
The table covers all 36 states and union territories. Rows with an asterisk carry data not confirmed from official sources. Confirm those with the state labour department before relying on them.
| State or UT | Casual leave | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 12 days | A 2025 amendment adds a 20 employee threshold; its start date is not yet notified as far as we could trace. |
| Andhra Pradesh * | 12 days | Data not confirmed from official sources; figures inferred from the identical parent act verified for Telangana. |
| Arunachal Pradesh | None | The state labour department lists only the central labour codes. Leave here is contract and policy. |
| Assam | 8 days, credited quarterly | The department site still shows the old 1971 act figures of 16, 12 and 12. The 2022 act replaced them. |
| Bihar | 12 days, full pay | Sick leave at half pay is written into the act itself. |
| Chandigarh | 7 days | Chandigarh administers the Punjab act. |
| Chhattisgarh | 14 days | CL cannot be combined with privilege leave. |
| Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu | 7 days, lapses | A 2025 amendment regulation exists; its text not confirmed from official sources. |
| Delhi | Merged pool: 12 days sickness or casual, no accumulation | One combined 12 day pool covers sickness and casual needs. |
| Goa | 6 days | Verified from the 1974 gazette print; later amendments not ruled out. |
| Gujarat | 7 days, lapses | The act applies to establishments with 10 or more workers. |
| Haryana * | 7 days | Base act verified; Haryana amendments after 1968 not confirmed from official sources. |
| Himachal Pradesh | 7 days | |
| Jammu and Kashmir * | 14 days, lapses | The act's commencement is verified; its leave figures are not confirmed from official sources yet. |
| Jharkhand | 12 days, full pay | |
| Karnataka | Merged into the 12 day sick leave pool | One 12 day pool serves both CL and SL. |
| Kerala | 12 days | |
| Ladakh * | 14 days | Data not confirmed from official sources. |
| Lakshadweep | None | The UT lists only the central labour codes. Leave is contract and policy. |
| Madhya Pradesh * | 14 days | Read from the parent act text; MP specific amendments not confirmed from official sources. |
| Maharashtra | 8 days, credited quarterly, lapses | Plus 8 paid festival holidays. Pro rata leave starts from 3 months of service. |
| Manipur | 12 days | The act bars accumulation of every leave type and has no encashment clause. |
| Meghalaya | 12 days | The act also gives 3 days of religious leave a year. |
| Mizoram * | CL capped at 5 days at a time by the 2011 rules | Data not confirmed from official sources; confirm the day counts on the state portal. |
| Nagaland | 12 days | |
| Odisha | None in the act | A 2025 amendment narrows coverage to 20 plus employees; it does not touch the leave section per the bill. |
| Puducherry | At least 12 days | The act words CL and SL as minimums. |
| Punjab | 7 days | |
| Rajasthan | None in the act | The 1 per 12 rate is unusually generous. We read it twice in the act text; spot check before relying on it. |
| Sikkim | 12 days | |
| Tamil Nadu | 12 days | The 45 day cap comes from the consolidated text; older prints show a lower cap. |
| Telangana | 12 days | The act also lets employees encash 8 days of leave every year. |
| Tripura | 12 days, no accumulation | Amended up to 2021 in the copy verified; a later amendment exists. |
| Uttar Pradesh * | Set by the 1963 rules; data not confirmed from official sources | CL figure sits in the rules; not confirmed from official sources. |
| Uttarakhand | 8 days, credited quarterly | The 2017 act repealed the UP act for Uttarakhand. |
| West Bengal * | 10 days, no accumulation | Figures from the official department summary; the act text not confirmed from official sources. |
* Data not confirmed from official sources. Compiled from the leave sections of the state acts on India Code and state labour portals, 31 August 2026.
Does casual leave carry forward or get encashed?
No. The acts treat casual leave as short leave for the current year. Maharashtra's 2017 act gives 8 days, credited quarterly, and whatever is unused at year end lapses. Gujarat and Uttarakhand have the same rule. Delhi puts casual and sickness needs in one 12 day pool and bars accumulation.
So casual leave does not go into the exit settlement, and an employee cannot save it up for a long absence. Only earned leave carries forward and gets encashed. Keep the two balances separate in your attendance system so both rules can be applied without argument.
One more rule appears in several acts. Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh do not allow casual leave to be combined with privilege leave in one stretch. If you operate in one of those states, put that rule in your policy in the same words the act uses.
Which states have no casual leave in the act?
Rajasthan's act gives annual leave at 1 day per 12 worked and nothing else: no casual head, no sickness head. Odisha's act pairs earned leave with 15 days of sickness leave and has no casual category. Employers in both states usually still give CL through policy, so that a two hour errand does not use up a full day of earned leave. If you do that, say in the policy that this CL is contractual and you set its terms.
Uttar Pradesh is the opposite case. The act names casual leave but leaves the number of days to the 1963 rules. When the statutory number is that hard to pin down, write your own number into the policy and keep it at or above what the rules prescribe.
What should a casual leave policy say?
Three process rules cover most of the friction. Notice: casual leave is short notice by nature, so ask for same day intimation rather than prior approval, and say who to inform. Half days: allow them, or people will take a full day for a one hour errand. A cap per stretch: Mizoram's rules cap casual leave at five days at a time, and a similar cap in your policy stops CL from turning into unplanned vacation.
Then make the balance visible. When CL sits in the attendance tool next to sick leave and EL, employees can see their own numbers and the year end lapse surprises nobody. The other leave types are listed on the types of leave index. For the wider compliance picture, see HR statutory compliance in India.
Common questions
How many casual leaves per year is an employee entitled to?
It depends on the state act. Common figures: 7 days in Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, 8 in Maharashtra, Assam and Uttarakhand, 12 in Bihar, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana, 14 in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Rajasthan and Odisha have no casual leave in their acts.
Does casual leave carry forward to the next year?
No, in almost every state casual leave lapses at the end of the calendar year. Maharashtra, Gujarat, Assam and Uttarakhand write the lapse into the act itself. It is also not encashable at exit, unlike earned leave.
Can casual leave be combined with earned leave or sick leave?
Several acts forbid clubbing casual leave with privilege leave, including Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Where the act is silent, it is your policy call. Most employers disallow it so that casual leave stays casual.
Is unused casual leave paid out when an employee leaves?
No. The encashment obligations in the state acts attach to earned or privilege leave. Casual leave that is unused simply lapses, at year end or at exit, whichever comes first.
What is the difference between CL and SL?
Casual leave covers unforeseen personal needs. Sick leave covers illness or accident, and often needs a medical certificate beyond a couple of days. Some states merge them: Delhi runs one 12 day pool for sickness or casual needs, and Karnataka's 12 day sick leave also covers any other reasonable cause.
Put your CL rules in a written policy
Offrd's policy generator produces a leave policy with your CL, SL and EL numbers in it, so employees can look up the answer themselves. 50 free credits on signup, no card.