The Kerala High Court recently delivered an important verdict in which it made a crucial observation on what distinguishes maternity leave from other kinds of leave.
The court noted that while most other forms of leave are discretionary and granted by an employer or institution, maternity leave is a fundamental right.
The verdict was delivered in a petition filed by a young doctor, Susan K. John. Dr John had qualified in the NEET Super Speciality Examination 2022 and was allotted the DrNB course in Nephrology at a hospital in Kochi. While undergoing her super-speciality course, she availed herself of 184 days of maternity leave following the birth of her second child, along with a few additional days of leave, taking her total leave for the year to 207 days.
While so, she was diagnosed with Stage IV High-Grade B-Cell Lymphoma, a serious and aggressive form of blood cancer that required extensive chemotherapy and rest. As a result, she had to take further medical leave.
The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) informed her that her total leave—maternity and medical combined—would amount to 402 days. Under the NBEMS 2024 Comprehensive Leave Rules, any leave exceeding 365 days results in the automatic cancellation of candidature.
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The High Court intervened to prevent this cancellation, ruling that her candidature should not be terminated for circumstances beyond her control, particularly when a substantial portion of the leave involved maternity leave. The court observed that maternity leave is a constitutional guarantee and a reproductive right, and that it cannot be clubbed with regular medical leave to justify terminating a student.
A key precedent cited by the High Court was the 2025 Supreme Court judgment in K. Umadevi v. Government of Tamil Nadu. In this case, the Supreme Court elevated maternity benefits by holding that maternity leave and related benefits are not merely statutory privileges, service conditions, or discretionary welfare measures. Instead, they form an integral part of a woman’s fundamental rights under Article 21 of the Constitution.
Globally, maternity protection has long been recognised as a core labour and human rights issue. When the International Labour Organisation (ILO) was founded in 1919, maternity protection was among its primary concerns.
The Maternity Protection Convention adopted that year was the world’s first international labour standard on gender equality, establishing basic principles such as paid leave, medical benefits, and job security by explicitly prohibiting dismissal during maternity absence. At the time, no country met these standards; the convention functioned as a radical blueprint that several European and Latin American countries began adopting in the 1920s and 1930s.
As women’s participation in the workforce expanded globally after the Second World War, these standards evolved. In 1952, the ILO adopted Convention No. 103, which expanded maternity protection beyond industrial workers to include women in non-industrial sectors, agricultural occupations, and domestic wage employment. India’s Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, was enacted with this convention in view and established a minimum of 12 weeks of maternity leave, a standard that remained unchanged for decades.
A major conceptual shift occurred at the global level in 1979, when maternity moved from the domain of labour law into the realm of human rights law through the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). CEDAW recognised reproductive rights as a vital concern and, through Articles 5 and 11, called for a proper understanding of maternity as a social function. It mandated maternity leave with pay or comparable social benefits, without loss of employment or seniority.
India ratified CEDAW in 1993, following which both the government and the judiciary gradually shifted from viewing maternity leave as a labour benefit to recognising it as a fundamental human right.
The National Commission for Women, established in 1992, played a key role in the 1990s and 2000s in reviewing laws such as the Maternity Benefit Act to ensure alignment with CEDAW’s anti-discrimination framework. In 1997, a Parliamentary Committee on the Empowerment of Women was also established to monitor the implementation of women’s rights, including health and workplace protections for mothers.
The most significant legislative milestone in India since 1961 came in 2017, when the Maternity Benefit Act was amended. Until then, statutory maternity leave in India remained at 12 weeks. The amendment increased this to 26 weeks for the first two children, more than doubling the entitlement.
This reform placed India among countries with the most generous maternity leave provisions globally, surpassing many developed nations. It also aligned Indian law with ILO Convention No. 183, adopted in 2000, which replaced the 1952 convention and recommends a minimum maternity leave of 14 weeks.
India now recognises a woman’s reproductive rights as part of her fundamental rights, with maternity leave acknowledged as a crucial aspect of those rights. When such rights are denied, judicial intervention becomes necessary—as it did in the case of Dr John’s petition.
