Attendance register-marking

Sir I would like to know whether there is any specific law/guideline which governs maintainence /marking of attendance register (e.g- "L" for leave,"A" for absent etc). Also what is the difference between "Leave" and "Absent" The clarification is searched as a disparity being observed in our institution (SBI) on absence of an employee wherein some B.M marks "L" and very few(est) mark "A" leading to a .... Our manual does not clearly clarify the difference. I quote some point of it as 1)"An employee who desires to obtain leave of absence, other than casual leave, shall apply in writing to the Branch Manager or any other officer authorised for the purpose......." 2) as "Absence without leave or overstaying sanctioned leave without sufficient grounds would be deemed as a “Minor Misconduct..." Under observation of leave rules it is there that "If the employee subsequently avails himself of leave without prior sanction, he should be advised in writing" & also "If the employee does not pay heed to these advices and absents himself again without prior sanction, the absence should be treated as unauthorised and on loss of pay..." In this scenerio one Br.Manager marks "leave" and another B.M marks "Absent" in case of someone who is not present for a day giving information of the exigency over telephone. I only want to know that if there is any legal guideline which can justify this anomaly.