Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini (image-Facebook/Nayab Saini)

Haryana: The Haryana government on Wednesday declared that Eid-ul-Fitr will be a restricted holiday and not a gazetted one. The Muslim festival falls on March 31 this year.

A restricted holiday means that government employees can take paid leave for the day at their discretion. A gazetted holiday, on the other hand, means that government offices and institutions are closed for that day.

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The state government’s human resources department stated that Eid-ul-Fitr will be observed as a restricted holiday because March 29 and March 30 are weekend off days and March 31 is the closing day of the financial year 2024-25.

Slamming the decision, Congress leader and Nuh MLA Aftab Ahmed said that the decision “exposed the mindset” of the ruling BJP government in the state.

Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini stated that making the occasion a restricted holiday “should not be made an issue”. Justifying the decision, he further added that this was the first time that three holidays came at the end of the financial year.

March 29 and 30 are weekend off days, and March 31 is Eid-ul-Fitr, along with being the closing day of the financial year 2024-25.

“Many types of transactions take place at the end of the financial year, so we have declared it [Eid-ul-Fitr] a restricted holiday. If someone wants to take leave, there is no restriction on that… There should be no politics on this,” the Chief Minister said.

The Income Tax Department also announced that its offices across India will remain open from March 29 to 31 to assist taxpayers in completing financial transactions before the fiscal year ends.

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Since March 31 is the last of the financial year, all government payments and settlements must be finalised by that date. The day is also the deadline for filing updated Income Tax Returns (ITRs) for the assessment year 2023-24.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) also issued a similar directive for banks handling government transactions to remain open on March 31 to accommodate taxpayers.