Supreme Court recognises maternity leave as a basic reproductive right

In a significant ruling delivered on Friday, the Supreme Court of India said that maternity leave constitutes an essential component of a woman's reproductive rights and must be upheld across all employment sectors. A bench led by Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuiyan emphasised that no institution can deny a woman her maternity rights. 

The judgment underscored that maternity benefits are not discretionary and cannot be denied based on arbitrary technicalities, especially in the context of remarriage or previous children. The verdict came in response to a petition filed by a female government school teacher from Tamil Nadu who was denied maternity leave after the birth of her child from a second marriage.

She was denied leave on the basis that she already had two children from her first marriage. Tamil Nadu’s policy restricts maternity benefits to the first two children only. However, the woman argued in her petition that she had not availed any maternity leave for her earlier children because she was not employed at the time. She joined government service only after her second marriage.

Represented by Advocate KV Muthukumar, the petitioner contended that denying her maternity leave was a violation of her fundamental rights. The Supreme Court agreed, stating that maternity leave could not be denied merely because she had children from a previous marriage.

The judgement significantly broadens the interpretation of maternity benefits in India. The court clarified that maternity leave is not just a workplace entitlement but a “basic reproductive right”. 

The 2017 amendment to the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 raised paid maternity leave from 12 to 26 weeks for all working women. It also granted 12 weeks of leave to adoptive and commissioning mothers, expanding the scope of maternity benefits.