SC asks reasons for denying maternity leave to woman

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to explain the rationale behind a provision which entitles only those women, who adopt a child below the age of three months, to seek maternity leave benefits.

The Apex Court was hearing a plea challenging the constitutional validity of a provision of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 which entitles only those women who are adopting a child below the age of three months to seek benefits of maternity leave for a period of 12 weeks. A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and Pankaj Mithal said the case put up by the petitioner in public interest prima facie was that the provision was a social welfare legislation and there was no reasonable classification when it restricted the age of infant up to three months. “In other words, if a woman adopts a child above the age of three months, she will not be entitled to any such maternity leave benefit as provided under the Amendment Act,” the bench noted in its November 12 order.