The Allahabad High Court has held that the time between two pregnancies need not be above a certain limit to avail maternity leave.
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The court was of the view that the maternity benefit shall be governed by the provisions of the Social Security Code, 2020, which does not put any embargo by way of timeline between two pregnancies.
The observation was made by Justice Siddharth Nandan who set aside a medical education department order dated January 9, rejective maternity leave of the petitioner.
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The court asked the petitioner to move a fresh application for the maternity leave available to her under the code and directed the authority concerned in the department to take appropriate decision in view of the observations made by the court.
The petitioner, Shikha Yadav, works as a regularly appointed staff nurse/nursing officer under the Department of Medical Education, Uttar Pradesh government.
She was earlier granted 180 days’ maternity leave, ending in July 2024. She again became pregnant with her second child, whose expected date of delivery was in January 2026.
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Accordingly, she submitted an application dated January 5, seeking the grant of maternity leave of 180 days. The application was, however, rejected solely on the ground that two years had not elapsed since the grant of her maternity leave.
In its judgment dated July 15, the court observed, “Accordingly, it is held that the provisions of the Code, 2020 shall prevail over any executive instructions. The said benefits, therefore, shall be governed by the provisions of the Code, 2020, which does not put any embargo, by way of a timeline between two pregnancies.”
