The Madras High Court on Wednesday declared that a government order issued by Tamil Nadu restricting maternity leave for the third pregnancy to 12 weeks is unjustifiable and contrary to the law settled by the Supreme Court.
Court's Observations
A division bench comprising Justice R Suresh Kumar and Justice N Senthilkumar stated, 'This kind of restriction made by the government through the Government Order (GO) is against the dictum of the Supreme Court as well as this court. The same cannot be approved by this court.'
The bench further noted, 'For restricting the period to 12 weeks, absolutely, there is no justification on the part of the government. Pregnancy, may be first, second or third, but the suffering would be the same and the pre-delivery as well as the post-delivery care that a mother needs to take is same in all such pregnancies.'
'Therefore, no discrimination could be shown by the government in approving the maternity benefits, especially maternity leave for the third pregnancy to the employees,' the court added.
Petition and Background
The court passed the order on a plea moved by Shayee Nisha, who challenged the rejection of her application for maternity leave by the Principal District Judge of Villupuram.
The court observed that several policy decisions are being taken by the Tamil Nadu government for the welfare of women, and several new and novel schemes are also being introduced for the upliftment of women. However, the present deviation made by the government by restricting maternity benefits to a pregnant woman only to 12 weeks is not in consonance with the consistent policy taken by the state government, nor is it in consonance with the law settled in this regard by the Supreme Court.
Verdict
'Resultantly, we have no hesitation to hold that the order passed by the Principal District Judge, Villupuram, is liable to be set aside and accordingly, it is set aside. As a sequel, there shall be a direction to the Principal District Judge, Villupuram, to consider the application submitted by the petitioner and sanction the maternity leave as equal to that of pregnant women of first and second pregnancy, unmindful of the GO dated March 13,' the court said.
