Supreme Court strikes down the three-month age limit on adopted children for maternity leave

Observing that adoption is part of the right to reproductive autonomy, the Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down a law which said a woman would be eligible for maternity leave if she legally adopts a child below the age of three months.

A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan held that an adoptive mother should be entitled to maternity leave of 12 weeks, irrespective of the age of the adopted child.

"Section 60(4) of the 2020 Code, insofar as it puts an age limit of three months on the age of the adoptive child for the adoptive mother to avail maternity benefit, is violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution," the bench said.

The top court's judgement came on a plea filed by advocate Hamsaanandini Nanduri challenging Section 60(4) of the Social Security Code that allows 12 weeks of maternity leave only if an adoptive mother adopts a child below three months of age. This ruling directly amends the recently implemented framework.

In November 2025, under the Code on Social Security, the government had formalised this specific 12-week leave provision for mothers adopting children younger than three months and for "commissioning mothers" in surrogacy, in contrast to the 26 weeks of paid leave guaranteed to biological mothers.

The apex court also asked the Centre to come out with a provision recognising paternity leave as a social security benefit.

Providing a broader look at the social security framework the Supreme Court just modified, in November 2025, the rollout of the new labour codes was intended as a broad package of reforms to modernise labour laws and improve women's rights and workforce conditions.

(With inputs from PTI)