The Allahabad High Court allowed the writ seeking maternity leave after a birth of a child. A single-judge bench of this Court comprising of Hon’ble Justice Ashutosh Shrivastava held that the Maternity Benefit can be extended to women even after the birth of a child. It can even be extended in the case of the legal adoption of a child of fewer than three months
Brief Facts:
Through this petition, the petitioner had prayed for issuance of a writ of certiorari quashing the orders dated 14.11.2022 and 25.11.2022 whereby and where under the sanction of maternity leave has been turned down by stating that "after child birth ML is not allowed and now you are eligible for CLL according rule" and "for ML out of date”.
Contentions of the Petitioner:
The learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the similar controversy, as raised in the present petition, has already been allowed by this Court in a bunch of writ petition, leading amongst them being Writ (A) No. 9535 of 2022 (Smt. Anupam Yadav vs. State Of U.P. And 2 Others).
It was further submitted that the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 (“the act of 1961”) has been enacted by the Parliament to regulate the employment of women in certain establishment for certain period before and after child birth and to provide for maternity leave benefit and certain other benefits. The provisions of the Act of 1961 permit maternity benefit even after the birth of the child and as such, the denial of the maternity leave to the petitioner on the ground that the child has already been born, the petitioner is not entitled to the maternity leave is per se illegal and erroneous. It is also contended that the Child Care Leave is distinct to the maternity benefit and operates in different fields and relegating the petitioner to avail of Child Care Leave is totally unwarranted.
Contentions of the Respondent:
Observations of the Court:
In view of this Court, the only benefit the petitioner may derive from the ratio of the decision in Smt. Anupam Yadav (supra) is that the grant of maternity leave would be governed by the provisions of the Act of 1961. Further, from the perusal of the Preamble of the Act, Section 5 (1), third proviso to sub-section 3 of Section 5, sub-section 4 of Section 5, it is more than apparent that the Maternity Benefit can be extended even after the birth of a child. It can even be extended in the case of legal adoption of a child or less than three months.
The only restriction is that maternity leave may not be granted for the entire 180 days or 26 weeks. Further, in the opinion of the Court, the availability of Child Care Leave to the petitioner or grant of the same cannot disentitle the petitioner from the grant of maternity benefit. Maternity benefits and Child Care Leave both operate in different fields and are mutually exclusive.
This Court was of the opinion that the District Basic Education Officer, Etah while rejecting the claim of the petitioner had overlooked the provisions of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961. In view of the above, the impugned orders dated 14.11.2022 and 25.11.2022 were set aside.
The decision of the Court:
The Allahabad High Court, allowing the writ, held that Maternity benefits can be extended even after the birth of a child.
Case Title: Saroj Kumari vs State of U.P. & Ors.
Coram: Hon’ble Justice Ashutosh Shrivastava
Case no.: WRIT - A No. - 2211 of 2023
Advocate for the Petitioner: Satyendra Chandra Tripathi
Advocate for the Respondent: C.S.C.,Sanjay Kumar Srivastava
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