NEW DELHI: The government on Friday decided to grant commuted leave without medical certificate until April 4 to officials aged above 50 years and having underlying conditions such as diabetes, respiratory problems , renal diseases and other life-threatening illnesses. A DoPT office memorandum said this was decided with approval of the competent authority “to avoid unnecessary burden on the health care system” in view of Covid-19 outbreak.

In further decisions aimed at ‘social distancing’ to contain spread of the virus, officials appointed as consultants/advisers post-retirement would be allowed to work from home until April 4 with the permission of respective heads of department, without adversely affecting their consultancy fee/honorarium.

