Uttarakhand HC to give government staff maternity leave for third child

NAINITAL: The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, is applicable to all private and government establishments, employing 10 or more people. The HC ordered, by a single bench of Justice Rajiv Sharma, saying, “The second provision of Fundamental Rule 153 of the Uttar Pradesh Fundamental Rules, as adopted by Uttarakhand goes against a central act as well as Article 42 of the Constitution, which provides for just and humane conditions of work and maternity leave.”

It added that, “The rule was against the Maternity Benefit Act,1961, which does not prohibit, in any manner, grant of maternity leave to a woman government servant who has two children. The Act is applicable to all private and government establishments, employing 10 or more people. In 2017, an amendment to the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, increased the duration of paid maternity leave available for women employees from 12 weeks to 26 weeks.”

Maternity leave was denied to Umila Masih, a Haldwani resident, in 2015. The court ordered the government to pay her salary for that period.