Shashwati Chowdhury
Published on: August 17, 2022 at 17:38 IST
In Deepika Singh v. Central Administrative Tribunal and Ors., the Supreme Court held on Tuesday that a woman’s statutory right to take maternity leave cannot be restricted because she previously used child care leave for her non-biological children.
The Central Civil Services Rules (CCS Rules) covering maternity leave must be purposefully interpreted in accordance with the object and intent of the Maternity Benefit Act passed by Parliament, according to a Bench comprising of Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice AS Bopanna.
A government employee who worked as a nurse at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh was denied maternity leave for her biological child since she had already used it for two of her other children. The Bench was hearing the case.
The two children belonged to her husband’s first marriage.
Her request for an allowance under the 2013 Central Civil Service Rules’ provisions for maternity leave was denied by the Central Administrative Tribunal and the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
The current Supreme Court appeal is a result of this.
The Bench made it clear in its brief but detailed order that the intent of granting maternity leave is to encourage women to join and continue in the workforce.
Thus, it declared that the appellant was entitled to maternity leave and set aside the orders of the High Court and the Tribunal.
The court said,
“The OA filed by the appellant shall stand allowed, and she is granted leave as admissible in terms of the aforesaid judgment. Benefits to the appellant that are pending shall be released within 2 months of this order.”
