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| HC Rules Maternity Leave Cannot Derail Regularization | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Aug 26: The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh at Jammu has held that maternity leave availed by women employees cannot be treated as a break in service for the purpose of regularization, ruling that J&K Bank's orders deferring their confirmation were unconstitutional and discriminatory.
Justice M.A. Chowdhary, while disposing of two connected writ petitions, quashed the Bank's orders that had postponed the regularization of four women Banking Associates - Basu Magotra, Isha Sudan, Bintul Hudda and Tanu Gupta - on account of their availing maternity leave during their contractual period.
The petitioners, represented by Advocates Amit Gupta and Advocate Rajiv Kumar Sharma, argued that their duly sanctioned maternity leave, ranging between 83 and 180 days, had been wrongly excluded from their service tenure. This exclusion, they contended, led to delayed regularization, loss of seniority, and denial of benefits under Circular No. 752 of 2021, including revised pay, arrears and promotional avenues.
The respondents, represented by Senior Advocate Abhinav Sharma assisted by Advocate Akash Gupta, maintained that contractual Banking Associates were required to complete two years of active service before regularization. They argued that maternity leave fell under extraordinary leave and therefore extended the contractual term.
Rejecting the Bank's position, the Court underscored that maternity leave is a statutory right under the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, and cannot be considered a service break.
"Motherhood cannot be treated as absence from duty," Justice Chowdhary observed, adding that discounting maternity leave amounted to sex-based discrimination, offending Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution. The Court also noted that such exclusion had a cascading effect on the petitioners' entire careers, pushing them behind their colleagues despite joining on the same date.
The High Court allowed the petitions, quashed the impugned orders, and directed J&K Bank to treat maternity leave as continuous service, regularize the petitioners with retrospective effect from the date they completed two years and extend all consequential benefits, including revised pay, arrears, seniority and promotion opportunities.
(JNF) |
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