The Allahabad High Court has ruled that the time between two pregnancies should not be above a certain limit to avail maternity leave.
The court held that maternity benefits are subject to the provisions of the Social Security Act of 2020, which does not place any prohibition on determining the time interval between two pregnancies.
This observation was made by Justice Siddharth Nandan who set aside an order of the Department of Medical Education dated January 9, denying maternity leave to the petitioner.
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The court asked the complainant to submit a new application to obtain maternity leave available to her under the system, and ordered the competent authority in the department to take the appropriate decision in light of the observations made by the court.
The petitioner, Shikha Yadav, is regularly employed as a Registered Nurse/Nursing Officer in the Department of Medical Education, Government of Uttar Pradesh.
She was previously granted 180 days of maternity leave, ending in July 2024. She fell pregnant again with her second child, who was due in January 2026.
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Accordingly, on January 5, I applied for 180 days of maternity leave. However, the request was rejected simply because two years had not passed since she was granted maternity leave.
“Accordingly, it is decided that the provisions of the 2020 Act prevail over any implementing instructions. Accordingly, the said benefits are subject to the provisions of the 2020 Act, which does not place any prohibition, through a schedule between the two loads,” the court noted in its ruling dated July 15.
