Historic decision of the Supreme Court! 12 weeks maternity leave to adoptive mother regardless of age of child, 3 month limit declared unconstitutional

New Delhi: The Supreme Court said that adoption of a child is part of the right to reproductive autonomy and with this it on Tuesday struck down the law which said that a woman will get maternity leave only if she legally adopts a child below three months of age. A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan said the adoptive mother should get 12 weeks of maternity leave regardless of the age of the child.

The bench said, “Section 60(4) of the 2020 Code, which limits the age of an adopted child to three months for the adoptive mother to receive maternity benefits, is violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.” 60(4) was challenged. Under this section, an adoptive mother was entitled to 12 weeks of maternity leave only if she adopted a child less than three months of age.