Maternity Leave Sanctioned During Contractual Service Cannot Be Curtailed Due To Submission Of Fitness Certificate During Regularisation: HP HC

The Himachal Pradesh High Court held that maternity leave, sanctioned while an employee was on contractual service, could not be curtailed merely because she submitted a medical fitness certificate at the time of regularization. Quashing the State's order that cancelled the leave Justice Sandeep Sharma remarked that : “submission of Medical Fitness Certificate, could not have given any right to the respondents to curtail the Maternity Leave of the petitioner granted to her w.e.f. 21.8.2021, for a period of 180 days.”The petitioner, Kamini Sharma joined as a JBT teacher at Government Primary School gater, on contractual basis in September 2018. In August 2021, she gave birth and thereafter availed maternity leave of 180 days under the CCS Leave Rules. While she was on leave, the Education Department issued an order on 21 October 2021 regularizing her services. To complete the regularization process, she submitted her joining report and medical fitness certificate on 22 October 2021, expressly stating that she was joining in continuity with her ongoing maternity leave.Two months later on 13th December, 2021, the department cancelled her maternity leave on the ground that once she had submitted medical fitness certificate on 22 October 2021, she cannot avail maternity leave. It treated the period from 23 October 2021 to 15 December 2021 as extraordinary leave. Aggrieved, the petitioner filed a writ petition before the High Court for directing the department to allow her to complete her maternity leave with all benefits. The Court observed that even though that as per the Leave Rule of the government, if an employee resumes her duty in middle of maternity leave after submission of medical fitness certificate, she is not entitled to avail the balance leave. However, the Court noted that in this case the maternity leave of the petitioner began while she was working on contract basis, but before her maternity leave of 180 days, could be availed by her the department regularized her services. The Court observed that her communication with the department shows that while she accepted the regularization and joined on regular basis, she informed the authorities that her joining is in continuity of her ongoing maternity leave. Also, it observed that at the time of the communication, no objection was raised by the concerned authority. Thus, the Court set aside the order of department and directed the state to release all the due amounts to the petitioner. Case Name: Kamini Sharma v/s State of Himachal Pradesh & Ors. Case No.: CWP No. 393 of 2022 Date of Decision: 11.08.2025For the Petitioner: Mr. Tarun K. Sharma, Advocate. For the Respondents: Mr. Anup Rattan, Advocate General with Mr. Rajan Kahol and Mr. B.C. Verma, Additional Advocates General.Click Here To Read/Download Order

Maternity Leave Sanctioned During Contractual Service Cannot Be Curtailed Due To Submission Of Fitness Certificate During Regularisation: HP HC

Mehak Aggarwal

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