Leave On National Festival - 26th January and 15th August
Republic Day (January 26), Independence Day (August 15), and Gandhi Jayanti (October 2) are the three national holidays observed in India. On these days all institutions, irrespective of under which law they are covered, or whether they are public or private organizations or MNCs should necessarily remain closed.The festival holiday are decided based on the local festival of that locality and are granted to the employee’s in accordance with the company policies.
The holidays are declared under the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1981. They are usually applicable to Government departments more particularly to banks. They are not generally adopted by factories and other establishments in the private and public sector. Provisions relating work days are provided in the Standing Orders of establishments as per the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946. In which provisions relating to employees working on various days as per the requirement of the organisation is mentioned and specification is given regarding their off days for working.
The factory legislations in our country also do not provide for the grant of festival holidays to industrial workers. But inspite of that, some quantum of festivals and national holidays with pay is prevalent in factories and other industrial establishments. Generally, the occupiers of factories fix the number of such holidays in their standing orders or service rules. Apart from this, States are very generous in declaring paid holidays.
National and Festival Holiday Act, which is applicable to all establishments in the country, irrespective of under which law it is formed it is mandatory to grant leave on following 3 days, i.e. 26th January (Republic Day), 15th August (Independence Day) and 2nd October (Gandhi Jayanti). For rest of the festival holidays the declaration depends on the discretion of the concerned States and establishments. Number of festive holidays can differ from state to state.
