Orissa High Court Grants Maternity Leave Rights to Surrogate Mothers

The Orissa High Court has ruled that female employees who become mothers through surrogacy have the same right to maternity leave and other benefits as those provided to natural and adoptive mothers.

The ruling was given by Justice SK Panigrahi on June 25, in response to a petition by Supriya Jena, an Odisha Finance Service officer, who had been denied 180 days of maternity leave after becoming a mother through surrogacy.

The court observed that while maternity leave is granted to female government employees who adopt a child up to one year old, there is no provision for maternity leave for children born through surrogacy.

The court emphasized that denying maternity leave to mothers of surrogate children would be improper and ordered the state government to grant 180 days of maternity leave to the petitioner within three months and to amend relevant rules to ensure equal treatment for all new mothers.

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