Delhi judge quotes Oprah Winfrey, Meryl Streep, Catherine Zeta-Jones in ruling on motherhood

NEW DELHI: Quotes by Hollywood and television divas don’t usually figure in court rulings. But room number 14 of Delhi’s Tis Hazari Courts witnessed an exception as Judge Mohd Farrukh began to spell out his verdict in a case involving a woman who had been fired from her job for extending her maternity leave.
“The choice to become a mother is the choice to become one of the greatest spiritual teachers there is,” said the additional sessions judge, and quickly followed it with: “Motherhood has a very humanising effect.Everything gets reduced to essentials.”
Farrukh had quoted American talk show host Oprah Winfrey and legendary actor Meryl Streep on motherhood to uphold a grant of Rs 2.5 lakh by a trial court to the woman whose services were terminated. The judge then quoted actor Catherine Zeta-Jones, who had said, “Whether your pregnancy was meticulously planned, medically coaxed, or happened by surprise... your life will never be same.”

Judge Mohd Farrukh
Maternity benefit isn’t a matter of charity: Court
Zeta-Jones, a mother of two, had said, “Whether your pregnancy was meticulously planned, medically coaxed, or happened by surprise, one thing is certain your life will never be same.”
The woman involved in the case was working at Delhi Council for Child Welfare, an NGO, when she applied for maternity leave from December 30, 2008, and February 28, 2009. On February 26, she sent another application for extension of her leave till March 30, stating she was not medically fit to join her duty.
When the woman went to resume work on April 1, the employer told her that her services had been terminated. She received a termination letter on April 13 after which she sent a legal notice to her employer on April 23. On May 29, she got a response along with a cheque of Rs 98,271 as her full-andfinal settlement.

The aggrieved woman moved a court saying termination of her services was in violation of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961. The employer contested her claims, saying she was sanctioned only two months of maternity leave. As she did not resume her duties on April 1, she was relieved from her duties.
On August 20, 2018, a trial court convicted the employer noting the woman should have been given a show cause notice before her services were terminated. The employer was admonished and slapped with a Rs 2.5lakh fine.
The compensation order was challenged before Judge Farrukh on the ground that the woman was entitled to a maximum of 12 weeks (84 days) of leave under the Maternity Act. “Therefore, the extension after 84 days could not be granted to her and thus there is no violation of any provision,” the employer said. It also said the trial court had “wrongly” granted compensation to the woman.
Judge Farrukh, however, observed, “Grant of maternity benefit is not a matter of charity”.
In the court’s opinion, a provision of the maternity act allowed a month’s leave in addition to the 12 weeks leaves permissible within the law. “Section 12 of the (Maternity) Act prohibits dismissal of a woman employee during or on account of her absence on maternity leave. It ensures that the conditions of her service would not be varied to her disadvantage during her absence for the period of her maternity leave,” the court said.
Section 10 of the Maternity Act, the court, provided that a “woman suffering from illness arising out of pregnancy, delivery, premature birth of child etc., on production of such proof would be entitled to the wages at the rate of maternity benefit for a maximum period of one month in addition to the period of absence allowed to her”.
Significantly, the court further highlighted judgments of Supreme Court and Delhi high court dealing with the issue of maternity leaves. The SC judgment said, “To become a mother is the most natural phenomena in the life of a woman. Whatever is needed to facilitate the birth of child to a woman who is in service, the employer has to be considerate and sympathetic towards her and must realise the physical difficulties which a working woman would face in performing her duties at the work place while carrying a baby in the womb or while rearing up the child after birth.”