The Supreme Court docket on Friday dominated that maternity depart is an integral a part of maternity advantages and a significant facet of girls’s reproductive rights. A bench comprising Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan said that no establishment can deny a lady her proper to maternity depart.
The order was handed on a petition filed by a Tamil Nadu lady authorities instructor who was refused maternity depart after the delivery of her youngster from her second marriage. The petitioner mentioned her maternity depart was denied as a result of she already had two youngsters from her first marriage.
Tamil Nadu has a rule that maternity advantages are solely prolonged for the primary two youngsters. The petitioner clarified that she had not availed any maternity depart or advantages for her two youngsters from the primary marriage. She additionally said that she joined authorities service solely after her second marriage.
Advocate KV Muthukumar, representing the petitioner, argued that the state’s resolution violated her basic rights as she had not beforehand used maternity advantages underneath Tamil Nadu’s provisions.
The Supreme Court docket sided with the petitioner and expanded the scope of maternity advantages, recognising maternity depart as a part of primary reproductive rights.
In 2017, the Maternity Profit Act was amended following Supreme Court docket orders, growing maternity depart from 12 weeks to 26 weeks for all girls staff. Girls adopting a baby are additionally entitled to 12 weeks of maternity depart. The Supreme Court docket has beforehand emphasised that maternity depart is a proper for all girls staff, no matter their employment nature.
