The Allahabad High Court has ruled that a second maternity leave cannot be denied to an employee simply because it is requested within two years of the first. In a significant judgment, the court clarified that the statutory rights guaranteed under the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, take precedence over any conflicting executive instructions or state-level financial rules.
The decision came during a hearing at the High Court’s Lucknow bench, presided over by Justice Karunesh Singh Pawar. The court was considering a petition filed by Manisha Yadav, who had challenged a rejection order dated April 4, 2026, which denied her request for a second maternity leave.
The petitioner, Manisha Yadav, had her first child in 2021. When she applied for her second maternity leave in 2022, her request was rejected by the authorities. The rejection was based on Rule 153(1) of the Financial Handbook, which the state government argued mandates a minimum two-year interval between two periods of maternity leave.
Ms. Yadav’s counsel argued that the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, is a piece of beneficial legislation enacted by Parliament to protect the rights of working women. They contended that since the Act does not impose a mandatory two-year gap, its provisions should prevail over the state’s financial regulations.
Justice Karunesh Singh Pawar, while evaluating the arguments, referred to established legal precedents. The court noted that the Maternity Benefit Act is a central legislation and, as such, overrides any inconsistent provisions found in executive instructions or the Financial Handbook.
“The Maternity Benefit Act, being a law enacted by Parliament, would prevail over any executive instructions or provisions in the financial handbook,” the court observed. It further emphasized that in any instance of inconsistency between the two, the provisions of the Act must have an overriding effect.
The court found the grounds for rejecting the petitioner’s leave to be “untenable” and underscored that such beneficial statutes must be interpreted in a way that furthers their social objective.
Setting aside the impugned order from April 4, 2026, the High Court directed the competent authority to grant the petitioner maternity leave for the period from April 6, 2026, to October 2, 2026.
This ruling reinforces the legal protection for women in the workforce, ensuring that state-level administrative rules do not dilute the fundamental benefits provided by central labor laws.
