U'khand HC denies maternity leave to govt employees in case of third child

The Uttarakhand High Court has passed an order denying maternity leave to women in government jobs in case of the third child.

In an order dated September 17, Chief Justice Ramesh Rangnathan and Justice Alok Kumar Verma of the high court quashed an earlier order by a single bench.

The double bench of the high court overruled the single bench order accepting the contention of the state government, which had challenged the single bench order issued by Justice Rajeev Sharma in July 2018.

The single bench order had been delivered on a PIL filed by Haldwani-based nurse Urmila Masih challenging a government rule not to provide maternity leave to women in case of a third child.

Citing the rules of the Act, Masih had said that the government's rule to not provide maternity benefits in case of a third child violates Article 42 of the Constitution of India and Section 27 of the Maternity Benefit Act.

The government challenged the order of the single bench by filing a special appeal and contending that the petitioner could not claim benefits of the maternity act as she already had two children and could not be granted maternity leave for her third child in consonance with the "second provision of the fundamental rule 153".

The second provision of the fundamental rule 153 of the financial handbook of the Uttar Pradesh Fundamental Rules adopted by Uttarakhand denies maternity leave to women for the third child.

After hearing the case, the bench rejected the order of the single bench accepting the government's special appeal.