By Admin 
The Supreme Court has asked for maternity leave for all women adopting a child. The court has repealed the provision of leave for adoption of a child only up to three months of age. The court has considered this a violation of the right to equality. In the Social Security Code of 2020, there is a provision of 12 weeks of maternity leave only for women who adopt a child up to three months of age. The court has canceled it.
The court said that irrespective of the age of the child, every adopting mother should get 12 weeks of maternity leave. The court said that when a woman legally adopts a child or a woman hands over the child to the adoptive woman, then the mother adopting the child should get 12 weeks of maternity leave from that date itself.
Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice R. Mahadevan’s bench said that there is no change in the care of the child because of his age. He said that it is not logical to decide maternity leave on the basis of age. He said that when adopting a child, the responsibilities of the mother are the same, whatever be the age of the child.
The court also urged the Center to bring a law recognizing paternity leave as a social security benefit. The court said that the duration of such leave should be determined according to the needs of the parents.
The petition on which the Supreme Court has given this decision was filed in the year 2021. In this, Section 5(4) of the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017 was challenged. According to this, there is a provision of 12 weeks leave for a working mother adopting a child. However, only if the child is three months old or less, the mother will get this leave. On this, the court issued a notice to the Center on November 12, 2024. The woman who filed the PIL has adopted two children.
In November last year, four labor codes were brought, in which all labor laws were included. There are provisions related to maternity leave in the Social Security Code and for women adopting a child, there is the same provision regarding maternity leave as before.
(With inputs from Nipun Sehgal)
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