On Wednesday, the Apex Court slammed a Delhi University college for removing an ad hoc woman assistant professor during her maternity leave & said “having a child is no reflection on a woman's professional ability”.
Manisha Priyadarshini has been working as an ad hoc assistant professor in different colleges affiliated to Delhi University. Her contractual appointment was getting renewed every four months with a notional break of one day for the last more than 6 years.
The last renewal of her contract was in Nov 2018 when she was working with Aurobindo College. In Jan 2019, she sought maternity leave for four months as she was having complications in her pregnancy. She gave premature birth to a daughter, but the college removed her from service in March.
A Delhi HC bench of Justice Hima Kohli & Justice Asha Menon ordered her reinstatement & imposed a cost of Rs 50,000 on the college, which appealed against it in the Supreme Court.
An Apex Court bench of Justice D Y Chandrachud & Justice Indira Banerjee said, “Maternity leave cannot be a ground for termination of services. Having a child is not a reflection on a woman's professional ability whether she is in the Army, Navy, judiciary, teaching or bureaucracy. We will not allow termination on this ground.”
When the lawyer for the college, Santosh Kumar, said the cost should be waived, the bench said, “The lady would have had to fight the might of the college & must have spent quite a sum in litigation. What is Rs 50,000 in Delhi? Imposition of cost is a good way of reducing frivolous litigation. It is important for the Supreme Court to start imposing costs.”
The Supreme Court commended the High Court judgment, which said the denial of extension of service because of her need to go on leave due to pregnancy “would tantamount to penalising a woman for electing to become a mother while still employed & thus pushing her into a choiceless situation as motherhood would be equated with loss of employment”.
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