Allahabad High Court Dismisses Plea Seeking Six Months’ Maternity Leave For Fourth Child
Petitioner contended that she had not availed any leave on the birth of her other three children and was entitled to the maternity leave benefit for the fourth child.
Justice Manju Rani Chauhan, Allahabad High Court
The Allahabad High Court has dismissed a writ petition challenging the rejection of a claim for maternity leave for a fourth child.
The writ petition sought a direction to grant her six months' maternity leave as per law.
A Bench of Justice Manju Rani Chauhan noted the provision stating that maternity leave is granted to permanent or temporary women government servants for 180 days in cases of delivery, subject to the prescribed conditions. It further states that if a woman government servant has two or more living children, maternity leave cannot be granted to her, even if leave is otherwise due.
“In view of the above, no interference is required by this Court,” the Court said.
Advocate Anchal Ojha appeared for the Petitioner and Advocate Nagendra Kumar Pandey appeared for the Respondents.
The petitioner’s counsel submitted that she had not availed any leave on the birth of her other three children and was entitled to the maternity leave benefit for the fourth child, as she was availing the benefit for the first time.
On the other hand, the Additional Chief Standing Counsel for the State submitted that the petitioner had already availed maternity leave.
Counsel for respondent nos. 2 and 3 submitted, on the basis of instructions kept on record, that under the Financial Handbook, Volume II, Part 2 to 4, Chapter-10, the petitioner was not entitled to maternity leave for the fourth child.
The Court also observed that the writ petition had been filed annexing only typed copies of the documents and not photostat copies of the original documents. It noted that the typed copies contained certain typing errors, which had to be verified by the photostat copies of the relevant documents.
The Reporting Section was directed to raise an objection in this regard and see that writ petitions are filed with proper photostat copies of the documents annexed along with the writ petition.
Cause Title: Smt. Sashi Kumari v. State of U.P. & Ors., [2026:AHC:165541]
Appearance:
Petitioner: Advocate Anchal Ojha
Respondents: Advocates Nagendra Kumar Pandey, Anuradha Sundaram