A PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the restrictive conditions on maternity leave of adoptive mothers. The Petition has challenged the constitutional validity of Section 5(4) of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961.
Section 5(4) of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 lays down that adoptive mothers will be eligible for maternity leave only if they adopt children who are less than 3 months old. It discriminates not only between biological and adoptive mothers but also between children who are adopted.
A petition filed by the Hamsaanandini Nanduri has said that such a distinction will lead to parents preferring to adopt a newborn children as against older children.
The petitioner further said that there is no provision for maternity leave at all for a mother adopting an orphaned, abandoned or surrendered child above the age of 3 months.
The plea is listed before the bench of Justice Abdul Nazeer and Justice Krishna Murari on Friday.
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