CCS (CCA), Conduct, Leave and Pension Rules: Which Rules Govern Your Post?

Three questions that settle which service rules apply

Before reading any rule, answer three questions about yourself. Who is your employer: a ministry or department of the Government of India, a railway zone, a State government, or a separate body such as a society, a statutory board or a company? Which service, cadre or category do you belong to, as shown in your appointment order and service book? And on what date did you join, and on what date did the event in dispute happen?

These three answers decide which service rules apply in nearly every case. A clerk in the Central Secretariat, a fitter in an ordnance unit and a postal assistant are all central civil servants under the CCS rules. A ticket examiner in the Northern Railway is under railway rules. A Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax from the IRS is under CCS rules, while an IAS officer posted in a ministry is under the All India Services rules. A scientist in a council laboratory is governed first by the council's own bye-laws.

People get this wrong in both directions. Departments sometimes quote a CCS provision against a railway employee, and employees sometimes rely on a DoPT order that their autonomous body has never adopted. The mismatch is not a technicality. A penalty imposed under rules that do not cover you, or a benefit claimed under rules that do not bind your employer, starts from a wrong foundation.

A rough map: your type of post and the rules that usually govern it

The CCS rules list: what each set actually covers

The CCS rules list is long, but five sets do most of the work in disputes. The CCS (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1965 deal with classification of posts, suspension, penalties, inquiries, appeals and revision. The CCS (Conduct) Rules, 1964 say what a government servant may and may not do: private business, gifts, property returns, political activity, joining associations, and much more. The CCS (Leave) Rules, 1972 cover earned leave, half pay leave, maternity and child care leave, and leave encashment. The CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021, which replaced the 1972 Rules, cover qualifying service, pension, gratuity and family pension for those within the old scheme. The Fundamental and Supplementary Rules (FR and SR) cover pay, increments, deputation, joining and much of what happens day to day.

Around these sit smaller sets that come up regularly: the CCS (Revised Pay) Rules, 2016 for the Seventh Pay Commission pay matrix, the CCS (Joining Time) Rules, 1979, the CCS (Leave Travel Concession) Rules, 1988, the CCS (Commutation of Pension) Rules, 1981, the CCS (Temporary Service) Rules, 1965 for temporary employees, and the General Provident Fund (Central Services) Rules, 1960.

For those who joined on or after 1 January 2004, the CCS (Implementation of National Pension System) Rules, 2021 apply, and the Central Civil Services (Implementation of Unified Pension Scheme under National Pension System) Rules, 2025, notified in September 2025, govern those who opted for UPS. The extraordinary pension rules were replaced by the CCS (Extraordinary Pension) Rules, 2023.

Each of these has an 'application' clause near the start. Read it before anything else. It tells you if your category is in or out.

Who is left out of the main CCS rules

Recruitment rules: the rule book for your particular post

Every regular post in the central government has recruitment rules, framed under the proviso to Article 309 and published in the Gazette. They are statutory rules, not guidelines. The schedule to the recruitment rules typically records the name of the post, its classification, its pay level, whether it is a selection or non-selection post, age limits and qualifications for direct recruits, the probation period, the method of filling it (direct recruitment, promotion, deputation or a mix in fixed percentages), the feeder grade and years of service for promotion, the DPC composition, and whether the UPSC is to be consulted.

Disputes about eligibility, promotion quotas, deputation and seniority usually turn on the exact wording of this schedule. A department that promotes someone without the required years in the feeder grade, or fills a promotion-quota post by deputation without relaxing the rules, is acting against a statutory rule.

Recruitment rules change. When they do, the question is which version governs a vacancy. The old view in Y.V. Rangaiah v. J. Sreenivasa Rao (1983) was that vacancies arising before an amendment are filled under the old rules. Later Supreme Court decisions, including State of Himachal Pradesh v. Raj Kumar (2022), have held that this is not an absolute rule and that the government may take a conscious decision not to fill vacancies until the amended rules come in. Expect argument on this point, and read the amendment notification for any saving clause.

Ask your establishment section for the current recruitment rules and every amendment notification since you joined. Our guide on where to find DoPT, DoE and DoPPW orders online explains where the Gazette copies can be found.

Statutory rules vs instructions: which wins when they clash

Service law in the central government has layers. At the top is the Constitution: Articles 309 to 311. Below it are Acts of Parliament, where they exist. Then come statutory rules framed under Article 309 or under an Act. Below those are executive instructions: office memoranda of DoPT, the Department of Expenditure and the Department of Pension and Pensioners' Welfare, and then departmental circulars.

The settled position, from Sant Ram Sharma v. State of Rajasthan (1967) onwards, is that instructions may fill gaps where the rules are silent and may explain how a rule is to be worked, but they cannot amend or override a statutory rule. If an OM says something different from the rule, the rule prevails. If a departmental circular adds a condition the OM never imposed, the circular is on weak ground.

There is a second limit. Even a statutory rule cannot be amended with retrospective effect so as to take away a benefit already earned under the old rule. The Constitution Bench in Chairman, Railway Board v. C.R. Rangadhamaiah (1997) struck down such a retrospective change to pension calculation for railway running staff.

Instructions still matter a great deal. Most of the practical detail, from MACP to the spouse posting policy, lives in OMs, not rules. The point is to check the hierarchy when the two disagree. Our guide on how to read a DoPT office memorandum helps you work out what a particular OM actually decides.

Departmental service rules outside the CCS family

Some large departments run on their own rules even though the subject matter is the same. Railways are the clearest case. When a railwayman in a Bhusawal loco shed gets a major penalty chargesheet, it comes on form SF-5 under Rule 9 of the 1968 discipline and appeal rules for railway servants, a minor one comes on SF-11, and his appeal goes under Rules 18 to 20 of those rules, not under Rule 23 of the CCS (CCA) Rules. Pay and allowances come from the Indian Railway Establishment Code and Manual, and pension since early 2026 from the Railway Services (Pension) Rules, 2026. Citing a CCS rule number in a railway case will confuse rather than help. Our page on service cases of railway staff sets out the railway structure.

Gramin Dak Sevaks are another case. They hold civil posts, so the tribunal hears their disputes, but their engagement and conduct are governed by the Gramin Dak Sevaks (Conduct and Engagement) Rules, 2020, not by the CCS (CCA) Rules. See our page on postal staff and Gramin Dak Sevaks.

Delhi Police personnel are disciplined under the Delhi Police (Punishment and Appeal) Rules, 1980. Kendriya Vidyalaya and Navodaya staff are governed by their organisations' codes and rules, which adopt many central provisions. Councils such as CSIR and ICAR have their own bye-laws. In each case, the first job is to get the organisation's own rules, then see which central rules they adopt.

Autonomous bodies: adopted rules and the date of adoption

Staff of a society, trust or statutory body are not government servants just because the money comes from a ministry. Their service conditions come from the body's rules, regulations or bye-laws. Many such bodies say the CCS rules apply 'mutatis mutandis' or 'as amended from time to time'. Others adopt specific rules on specific dates.

The wording matters. If the bye-laws adopt the CCS (Pension) Rules as they stood on a certain date, a later amendment does not automatically reach you. If they adopt central rules as amended from time to time, it usually does. Fresh DoPT orders on matters like notional increment or child care leave often reach autonomous body staff only after the governing body passes a resolution.

Even the forum depends on status. The tribunal can hear staff of a body only if the Centre has notified it under Section 14(2) of the Administrative Tribunals Act. Our guide on the difference between a government servant and autonomous body staff explains why this distinction changes both the rules and the forum.

How to work out which rules govern you, step by step

This takes a few hours with the right papers, and a few weeks if you have to ask for them.

1. Take out your appointment order

   Note the post, the pay level, the cadre or service named, the authority signing it and the date. If the order says 'by order and in the name of the President', that tells you about authentication, not necessarily about who appointed you; our guide on the appointing authority explains the difference.

2. Check your service book's first page

   It records your date of joining, the post and often the rules under which you were appointed. Errors here travel into every later dispute. You can ask for a copy if you have never seen it.

3. Get the recruitment rules for your post

   Ask the establishment section, or search the Gazette by the post's name. Collect every amendment notification since your date of joining.

4. Read the application clause of each rule set

   For discipline, conduct, leave and pension, read the first few rules and see whether your category is included or excluded. Write down the result for each.

5. Identify the rule in force on the date of the event

   A penalty, a pay fixation or a retirement is generally governed by the rules as they stood when it happened. Check whether any amendment has a saving or retrospective clause.

6. List the OMs your department relies on

   For each, check whether it explains a rule, fills a gap or contradicts something. Contradictions are often your best ground.

7. For autonomous bodies, find the adoption resolution

   Ask for the governing body resolution adopting each central rule, with its date. Without it, the body may be applying rules it never adopted, or refusing benefits it did adopt.

Getting the rule text: routes, time and cost

Advocate B.K. Singh's first tip: quote the rule that existed on the date

When a client brings a penalty order or a pension calculation, Advocate B.K. Singh first writes down the date of the event and then pulls the rule as it stood on that date, not the version printed in the latest compilation. Compilations are updated, and the reader forgets that the text before him may be two amendments ahead of the one that governed his case.

He has seen pension disputes argued for months on the 2021 Rules when the employee retired under the 1972 Rules, and minor penalty cases argued on a version of Rule 16 that came after the order. The fix is simple: keep a photocopy of the Gazette notification of each amendment, with dates, in your file.

Papers that show which rules govern you

Where a dispute about the rules is decided

If you are a central civil servant, a railway employee, a defence civilian or an All India Service officer, a quarrel over the applicable rules is itself a service matter, and the Central Administrative Tribunal decides it. The OA normally goes to the bench covering your place of posting or the place where the order took effect, and a pensioner may use the bench for the area of residence. Our page on the Central Administrative Tribunal describes how the tribunal works.

If you work for an autonomous body, the forum turns on the Section 14(2) notification. If the body is notified, the tribunal hears you; if not, the High Court under Article 226. Staff of most central universities are in the second group, though some bodies were added in recent years, so check the current list.

CAPF personnel go to the High Court, armed forces personnel to the Armed Forces Tribunal, and State government employees to the State Administrative Tribunal or the High Court. Arguing the right rules in the wrong forum wastes months.

How your group and status change the answer

Within the CCS rules, your group matters for who can discipline you and who hears your appeal. The classification of posts into Groups A, B and C is made under the CCS (CCA) Rules and now follows pay levels. Our guide on why your Group A, B or C classification changes who can punish you deals with that side.

Probationers and temporary employees have extra rules. A temporary government servant's services can, in some cases, be terminated under the CCS (Temporary Service) Rules, 1965 by notice, and a probationer's discharge may be under the recruitment rules or the appointment order. Whether a discharge is simple or punitive is a separate question.

Retirees remain under the rules that governed their pension at retirement, subject to later beneficial orders. Candidates who are not yet appointed are governed by the recruitment rules and the advertisement, not by the conduct or discipline rules.

Advocate B.K. Singh's second tip, and what to do this week

Advocate B.K. Singh's second tip is to ask, in writing, which rule the department applied. Orders sometimes recite 'as per rules' without naming any. A short representation asking the authority to state the rule and the OM it relied on often produces a reply that exposes the mismatch, or at least fixes the department to one position before litigation starts.

This week, take out your appointment order and service book, ask for your recruitment rules with all amendments, and note the date of the event you are worried about. If you are in an autonomous body, ask for the bye-laws and adoption resolutions. If the department has already passed an order against you, check the limitation period while you gather these.

If you are unsure which rules govern your post or the order made against you, contact Advocate B.K. Singh for advice on your papers or for updates on the law.