Can’t discriminate among employees on maternity leave, rules High Court

The Punjab and Haryana High Court here has held that contractual employees cannot be denied maternity benefits solely on account of the nature of their appointment.

Justice Aman Chaudhary said, “To discriminate between women employees on the premise of the nature of their engagement/appointment, it being regular or contract, would be violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India...”

Justice Chaudhary said the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, was a legislation designed to safeguard the rights of working women during pregnancy and motherhood and enacted in consonance with Articles 39 and 42 of the Constitution. The ruling came on a petition filed by Harpreet Kaur. The Bench was told that she was working as a clinic assistant empanelled under the Aam Aadmi clinic in Bathinda.

She applied for maternity leave from June 20 to August 20, 2023. After giving birth to a baby girl, she requested to re-join, but was at that point not permitted. The District Nodal Officer, Aam Aadmi Clinic, issued a letter dated August 3, 2023, vide which the petitioner’s joining was arbitrarily cancelled on the grounds that she could not take leave for more than three days.