The Allahabad High Court has dismissed a government employee’s petition seeking maternity leave in connection with the birth of her fourth child. The Court accepted the State’s submission that, under the applicable service rules, she was not entitled to maternity leave for the fourth child.
Justice Manju Rani Chauhan passed the order on August 7 while hearing the petition filed by Shashi Kumari.
Kumari had approached the High Court challenging an order dated June 19 passed by the Block Education Officer, Sambhal (Bheem Nagar). Through that order, her request for maternity leave had been rejected.
Before the High Court, Kumari sought a direction to the concerned authorities to grant her six months of maternity leave. Her counsel argued that she had not availed maternity leave when her first three children were born. On that basis, it was submitted that she should be allowed maternity leave now, as she was seeking it for the first time.
The State opposed the petition. Its counsel submitted that the applicable rules did not permit maternity leave in the case of a fourth child.
During the hearing, the State counsel further submitted that the petitioner had already availed maternity leave. The submission was placed before Justice Manju Rani Chauhan.
After considering the submissions, the Court found no reason to interfere with the order passed by the education authorities. The Court accordingly declined to grant the relief sought by the petitioner.
Justice Manju Rani Chauhan dismissed the writ petition, leaving the rejection of the maternity leave claim undisturbed. The order thus records the State’s position that the applicable rules did not entitle the petitioner to maternity leave for her fourth child.
