BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court said that Child Care Leave (CCL) is not limited only to the exact days of a child’s examination. The court rejected the Centre’s argument that such leave can be granted only for the specific examination dates.

A division bench of Justice SG Pandit and Justice KV Aravind passed the order recently, dismissing the petition filed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (IT), the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) and others, questioning the order dated February 5, 2026, passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), Bengaluru Bench.

Kavita Vadde, administrative officer of CDAC, requested CCL from December 16, 2025, to May 20, 2026. The CDAC granted leave only for the period from February 16, 2026, to March 7, 2026. Therefore, she approached the CAT seeking directions to grant leave as per her request, which was made on the grounds that her son was appearing for the 10th board examinations.

By the order in question, the CAT modified the order dated November 24, 2025 and directed the CDAC to grant a CCL as per her request.

Therefore, the Ministry of Electronics and IT moved the High Court, contending that the CCL was made to enable Kavita to support her son during the board examinations by granting leave from February 16, 2026, to March 7, 2026. It was also contended that the CAT committed an error in granting leave beyond the examination period, which would hamper the functioning of the department and would also defeat the very object of sanctioning such leave.

Countering it, advocate K Satish, appearing for Kavita, contended that examinations were conducted in two stages and that the period sought in the application for CCL encompasses the pre-board examinations.