Thiruvananthapuram: Government employees having children with physical or mental disabilities need not produce a fresh medical certificate every time they apply for special casual leave from now on. The Finance Department has amended the Kerala service rules to effect the change. 

In the section dealing with special casual leave, under rule 20 the line 'on each occasion of the leave' shall be substituted as 'the employee shall produce such certificate as and when the leave is required and copy of the same can be used for the purpose in the same calendar year'. Rule 20 envisages grant of special casual leave to employees having children with physical or mental disabilities for a maximum period of 15 days in a calendar year on the production of a certificate from a medical officer attending to the child stating that the child has physical or mental disabilities on each occasion of the leave. 

However, the production of fresh certificates on each occasion creates unnecessary hardship for the employees. In order to simplify the procedure, government has decided to make suitable amendments in the Kerala Service Rules, according to the notification issued by A Jayathilak, Additional Chief Secretary, Finance Department.