Child Born Before Govt Service Not To Count Towards Maternity Leave Entitlement: Rajasthan High Court

The Rajasthan High Court has granted relief to a woman government employee who was denied her second maternity leave during service on the ground that the child in question was her third biological child.

The bench of Justice Rekha Borana observed that the entitlement to maternity leave of a woman government employee cannot be construed in a narrow manner. Since the leave sought by the petitioner was only her second maternity leave during service, it could not have been denied merely because the child was her third biological child.

For context, petitioner's first child was born prior to her appointment, followed by her second child after her service tenure had started. The petitioner had taken her first maternity leave in relation to the second child. After that, she was divorced, and got remarried. Out of this second wedlock, she gave birth to her 3^rd biological child, and applied for her second maternity leave.

This leave was denied on the ground that the child in question was her third child and in her service records, the details of the first 2 children had already been entered. Hence, the present petition was filed.

After hearing the contentions, the Court referred to Rules 103 and 103C of the Rajasthan Service Rules, 1951, and opined that a female employee was entitled to maternity leaves on 2 occasions in her complete service tenure.

A further reference was made by the Court to the Supreme Court case of K. Umadevi v Government of Tamil Nadu & Ors. in which it was laid down that the provision of maternity leave had to be construed in the background of the fact that child birth was a natural incident of life. When courts were confronted with such situations, they should attempt to give effect to the purpose of law rather than to prevent its application.

In this background, the Court made the aforementioned observations, and opined that,

“Had it been that the petitioner had already availed maternity leaves twice qua the children from her first marriage and had applied for the third one qua the child from her second marriage, things would have been different. That not being so, and the maternity leave as sought being the second only, the entitlement of the petitioner for the same could not have been denied.”

Accordingly, the petition was allowed, and the State was directed to grant maternity leave to the petitioner.

Title: Chandra Kanta Pahariya v State of Rajasthan & Ors.

Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Raj) 329

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