Government servants desiring to avail themselves of Optional Holidays shall take prior permission of the Head of Office concerned and no Government Servant shall be granted more than one optional holiday in the case of Muslims and three optional holidays for Non-Muslims, in a calendar year.
The grant of this concession should not result in any dislocation of work. In the case of Muslim optional holidays, the number of persons permitted to avail optional holidays should be regulated in a manner so that adequate staff is available for proper continuance of the work.
The optional holidays are denominational and may be allowed at the discretion of the Head of Office, provided that work does not suffer.
A Government Servant should not ordinarily be refused an Optional Holiday that is of religious significance and the refusal is likely to decrease the number of such holidays to which she/he is entitled.
