Maternity leave is a right, can’t be clubbed with regular leave: Kerala HC

The Kerala High Court said that maternity leave is a matter of right and cannot be combined with regular self-taken leave.

The bench of justice Bechu Kurian Thomas was hearing a plea by a woman doctor from Ernakulam who had approached the court challenging the allegation that the National Board of Examinations for Medical Sciences (NBEMS) had refused to approve the 402-day leave enjoyed by the trainee herself. This included 184 days of maternity leave.

The board argued that interns would be disqualified from continuing their programs if their total leave time exceeded one year. The petitioner said she needed treatment for an aggressive type of blood cancer outside of maternity leave.

Accepting the applicant’s argument, the court observed that extraordinary circumstances require an extraordinary approach and that the general rule limiting leave to one year cannot be mechanically applied in exceptional cases like that of the petitioner.