7th CPC Recommendations – Equal Rights: Child care leave for single fathers in Army

New Delhi: Single fathers in defence forces will now be able to avail benefits of child are leave. Defence minister Rajnath Singh has approved extension of benefits of child care leave (CCL) to single male service personnel.

Presently, the CCL is granted to woman officers in the defence forces. Recently, Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) had extended the benefit of the CCL granted to woman civil employees, to single male government servants also.

In December last year, DoPT had said that male personnel in the central government, who are single parents to dependant children, can take a total of 730 days holiday during their entire period of service. DoPT had defined a ‘single’ male government employee as “an unmarried or widower or divorcee government servant”.

Defence ministry officials said that the age limit of 22 years prescribed earlier in the case of a child  with 40 per cent disability has been removed for the purpose of availing the CCL.

Further, the minimum period of the CCL that can be availed at a time has been reduced to 5 days instead of 15 days.

“Single male service personnel and woman officers of defence forces will also be able to avail the CCL in respect of child with 40 per cent disability without any restriction of age limit of the child. Further, the minimum period of the CCL that can be availed in each spell has been reduced to 05 days from the earlier limit of 15 days,” said the officials.

It was the 7th Pay commission which had recommended that benefit of child care leave should be extended  to single male parents.

“In the event a male employee is single, the onus of rearing and nurturing the children falls squarely on his shoulders. Hence, extension of the CCL to single male parents is recommended,” the report had said.