Lawyer appointed by DSLSA as professional not entitled to maternity benefit Delhi HC

    New Delhi, Apr 23 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Tuesday set aside an order of a single judge bench holding that a lawyer appointed as a legal services advocate (LSA) by the Delhi State Legal Services Authority (DSLSA) would be entitled to maternity benefit under the law.
    A bench headed by Justice V Kameswar Rao, while allowing the authority's appeal against the decision of a single judge, said while there could be no dispute that the right to bear a child is a fundamental right as enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, the appointment of the lawyer as LSA was not a regular engagement having any fixed terms hired as she was not as an employee but a professional.
    "The conclusion drawn by the learned single judge that the appointment letter of the respondent (the lawyer seeking benefits) also shows that the respondent was working for a number of fixed hours as per the time schedule of Juvenile Justice Boards and she was required to report to the observation homes after working hours of the Court, to hold that the relationship of the Authority and the respondent is of employer-employee, is clearly misplaced," the bench, also comprising Justice Saurabh Banerjee, said.
    "We hold that the learned single judge has erred in extending the benefits of the (Maternity Benefit) Act of 1961 to the respondent, more particularly, given the nature of her appointment. The appeal is allowed and the impugned judgment is liable to be set aside," ordered the court.
    The lawyer had argued that she was entitled to benefits under the Maternity Benefit Act on account of being a "woman employed for wages in any establishment".
    The court said the DSLSA appoints panel lawyers for extending free and competent legal services and are paid a prescribed honorarium.
    It said that there was no payment of "wages by an employer" in the instant case which made the Maternity Benefit Act non-applicable to it.
    "(It) is not necessary that the respondent is required to attend the cases every day. According to her, if the Advocate does not attend the Court on a given day, he/she is not paid the fees on that day. It follows that the engagement of the respondent, as any other LSA, is not regular having any fixed terms. It is thus that the leaves as available to an employee are not available to a LSA. As a necessary corollary, the engagement of LSA on day to day basis is as a professional," said the court.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)