Orissa HC: Maternity Benefits Must Be Given To All Women Employees, Regardless Of Job Type
A division bench of Justice Dixit Krishna Shripad and Justice Mruganka Sekhar Sahoo upheld a previous single-judge order in favour of Anindita Mishra, a contractual employee with the state’s Health and Family Welfare Department.
Bhubaneswar: In a significant verdict advancing employee rights, the High Court of Orissa has ruled that maternity benefits must be granted to female employees regardless of their employment status — whether permanent, temporary, or contractual.
A division bench of Justice Dixit Krishna Shripad and Justice Mruganka Sekhar Sahoo upheld a previous single-judge order in favour of Anindita Mishra, a contractual employee with the state’s Health and Family Welfare Department. The court came down heavily on the state’s position that contractual staff are ineligible for maternity leave.
“Denying maternity benefits on account of employment category is abhorrent to the notions of humanity and womanhood,” the court remarked during a recent hearing, adding that all women employees form a single, homogenous group for the purpose of availing such benefits.
The judges further underlined that such discriminatory treatment violates Article 14 of the Constitution, which enshrines the right to equality before the law.
Dismissing the state government’s appeal at the admission stage, the division bench held it devoid of merit and instructed authorities to comply with the order within eight weeks.
The case originated in May 2014, when Anindita Mishra was appointed on a contractual basis. After giving birth to a daughter in August 2016, she sought six months’ maternity leave, submitting requisite medical documents in line with finance department guidelines. However, her request was summarily turned down on June 7, 2017, citing her contractual employment status.
Mishra challenged the decision before the High Court, where a single-judge bench ruled in her favour in August 2022, directing the government to sanction her maternity leave in accordance with prevailing laws. The state’s subsequent appeal against that decision was dismissed by the division bench on June 24, 2025, which described the earlier judgment as “sound and unassailable.”
In a significant observation, the court also highlighted the essential principle of ‘zero separation’ between a mother and her newborn during early infancy. “A lactating mother has a fundamental right to breastfeed her child during its formative years,” the judges noted.