Eid 2016 moon not sighted in India: Eid-al-Fitr holiday postponed; some states to have 2-day off

The Central government in India has postponed the Eid-al-Fitr holiday to July 7 after the Eid 2016 crescent moon was not sighted on Tuesday. Some states, however, have announced a two-day holiday.

The Central and state governments had earlier declared July 6 as the Eid-al-Fitr holiday. But after the crescent moon was not sighted, the Central Moon Committee on Tuesday decided to celebrate Eid-al-Fitr (Ramzan) on July 7, according to the Chief Executive Officer of the Karnataka State Board of Auqaf.

The Eid-al-Fitr holiday has, accordingly, been shifted to July 7. The Department of Personnel of Training (DoPT) reportedly issued an order on Tuesday that all central government administrative offices in Delhi/New Delhi will remain closed on July 7 due to Eid-ul-Fitr festival. It also said that the employees coordination committee or head of offices can decide the date depending upon the decision of the state governments.

According to a circular sent by the committee in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, accessed by IBTimes India, IT officials in the two states will have two-day holiday. "It is informed that as per DoPT circular dated 05.07.2016 and depending upon the declaration of State Govt., holiday for Id-Ul-Fitr has been shifted to 7th July, 2016 in place of 6th July, 2016 for all Central Govt. offices located in AP & Telangana," reads the circular.

The Karnataka state government has declared July 7 as a holiday for all its offices, schools, colleges and other establishments. "The PU supplementary exams that were scheduled on July 7 have been postponed in the wake of the government holiday. Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, French, Marathi and Arabic exams have been postponed and the dates will be informed later," New Indian Express quoted an official of the Department of PU Education as saying.

The Pune state education department has, however, maintained that the official leave for Eid in city schools would be on July 6, as planned earlier. "The official leave for Eid-ul-Fitr as declared by calendar is July 6 and we have asked schools to follow the same. Except some Urdu schools, which had asked for permission to give leave as per sighting of the moon and declaration of date for Eid, all other schools will be following the earlier declared date," Mushtaq Shaikh, primary education officer, Zilla Parishad told Indian Express.

All exams of the MG University in Kerala scheduled for Thursday have been postponed to July 20, but there is no change in the exam centres. CUSAT has postponed the first semester exam of M.VOC to Friday, while the exams for the ship technology department have been rescheduled to July 18. Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS) has also postponed all exams, reported Manorama Online.