Maternity leave only if adopted child is below 3 months: SC seeks response from Centre

Bhubaneswar: The Supreme Court of India today served a notice to the Centre seeking its response on a PIL challenging a provision of the Maternity Benefit Act that says adoptive mothers will be eligible to avail of maternity leave, only if they adopt children aged below 3 months.

A Bench of Justice S Abdul Nazeer and Justice Krishna Murari sought response from the Centre on the plea which said the provision is ‘discriminatory and arbitrary’ towards adoptive mothers.

Petitioner Hamsaanandini Nanduri challenged the Constitutional validity of Section 5(4) of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, as per which, a person has to be an adoptive parent to a child below three months to avail the benefit of 12 weeks maternity leave.

“There is no provision for maternity leave at all for a mother adopting an orphaned, abandoned or surrendered child above the age of three months,” the plea said adding that such a distinction will lead to parents preferring to adopt newborns as against older children. It further said Section 5(4), therefore, discriminates not only between biological and adoptive mothers but also between children, who are adopted.

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The plea also raised objection to the period of maternity leave provided to adoptive mothers as compared to biological mothers. While adoptive mothers get 12 weeks of maternity benefit, biological mothers avail the benefit for 26 weeks, it added.

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