High Courts Work Even On Holidays, Denial Of Compensatory Leave To Its Officers Illegal, Violates Article 229: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday (January 28) held that denial of compensatory leave to the Gazetted Officers of the High Court is illegal, arbitrary and violative of Article 229 of the Constitution.

Justice N. Nagaresh observed:

“In High Court, the functional realities are materially different from other Government Departments. Administrative and judicial work continues even during major holidays such as Onam and Christmas. Even during holidays, vacation sittings are held, which require the full process of filing, scrutiny, allocation of cases, issue of orders and even clearing of pendency. Indexing and processing of disposed files are usually done during this holiday period. The Gazetted Officers of the High Court are required to supervise, coordinate and ensure completion of all such duties… It is declared that denial of compensatory leave to the Gazetted Officers of the High Court under Ext.P1 is illegal, arbitrary and violative of Article 229 of the Constitution of India.”

The Court set aside two communications through which the government had rejected the High Court Registrar General's requests, made at the instance of the Chief Justice of the Court, for exempting the Gazetted officers of the Court from denial of compensatory leave.

“The object of Article 229 of the Constitution of India is to secure independence of the High Court, which is essential for the working of the democratic form of Government in this country by giving the High Court the absolute control over its staff, subject only to the limitations imposed by Article 229 and free from interference by the Government… The request emanated from a constitutional authority exercising absolute control under Article 229 over the conditions of service and functioning of the High Court establishment. The recommendations of the Chief Justice in matters concerning internal administration and functioning of the High Court cannot be disregarded by the Executive,” the Court added.

It then directed reconsideration of the request in conformity with Article 229 and in light of the Chief Justice's recommendation and to pass orders within 3 months.

The petition before the Court was preferred by the Kerala High Court Gazetted Officers' Association, a registered association representing the Gazetted employees of the Court.

According to the association, the government amended Appendix VII Part I of the Kerala Service Rules (KSR) whereby Gazetted Officers were made ineligible for compensatory leave, which was followed by a gazette notification to that effect. Pursuant to the notification, the High Court issued an Office Memorandum revoking compensatory leave to its Gazetted officers.

It was stated that the staff of the Court are governed by the Kerala High Court Service Rules, 2007 and the same has no provision dealing with compensatory leave but as per Rule 27(2), the KSR provisions will be applicable to matters concerning leave.

After the issuance of the office memorandum, the Chief Justice had directed that a communication be given to the government seeking exemption to the High Court Gazetted Officers from the operation of the amended Appendix VII KSR. Accordingly, the Registrar General had sent two request letters, which were declined vide the impugned communications without assigning any specific reasons.

The Registrar General had pointed out that even though the High Court is closed for Onam and Christmas holidays, there are vacation sittings and even routine administrative and other works during the holiday period. Further, it was stated that Gazetted Officers even put in extra hours of work, in addition to the working hours from 10 am to 4:30 pm.

The petitioner contended that the government granted exemption to several departments of the government but in spite of the recommendations of the Chief Justice, they were not exempted. The Chief Secretary of the government told the Court that only the Health Sector is granted exemption and no other departments.

The Court referred to two judgments of the Supreme Court wherein the special nature of the work done at the High Court as well as the primary duty of the government to accept suggestions of Chief Justice of High Court were highlighted.

It then remarked that in the present case, the government ought not to have rejected the request without any reasons. The Court allowed the plea, ordering reconsideration and passing of orders within 3 months.

Case No: WP(C) No. 45866 of 2025

Case Title: Kerala High Court Gazetted Officers' Association v. State of Kerala and Ors.

Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Ker) 49

Counsel for the petitioner: Mathews K. Nelluvely, Reji Mathew M., Mathew Varghese, Joel Reji Mathew, Andrew Mathews

Counsel for the respondents: Aneesh James – High Court, P.K. Babu – Special Govt. Pleader (Finance)

Click to Read/Download Judgment