Mumbai: Contractual doctors denied maternity leave despite law

Section 5 of the Maternity Benefit Act guarantees 26 weeks of paid leave

The issue of maternity leave has once again cropped up, with contractual employees at civic-run medical colleges and hospitals being barred from such benefits. Worli MLA Aaditya Thackeray wrote a letter to BMC commissioner Bhushan Gagrani, requesting his intervention in the matter. Though the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, as amended in 2017, allows for paid maternity leave across all organisations in India, the assistant professors working on a contract basis in civic hospitals of the city are denied the said benefit.

"Vide Section 5 of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, as amended in 2017, the implementation of which began in 2019, the Government has increased paid maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks of which not more than eight weeks shall precede the date of expected delivery. The Act is applicable to all women who are employed in any capacity, directly or through any agency, either on contractual or as consultant," said Advocate Subit Chakraborty, a private practitioner fighting one such assistant professor's case.

Doctor Speak

"I joined KEM Hospital as a contractual assistant professor in January 2021. In March 2024, I conceived and applied for maternity leave in October 2024, at the end of my eighth month. My application was denied, citing that as a contractual employee, a leave exceeding 15 days would be treated as a break in service, and I wouldn't be allowed to rejoin. I tried rejoining in April this year but got the same response. I filed a case against MCGM in November 2024. However, officials haven't attended any hearing, causing repeated delays. The next hearing is scheduled for April 17," said Dr Dhanashri Karkhanis.

The doctor shared that she faced serious complications during her pregnancy due to being forced to do 24-hour duties at least once a week. "The hospital says that leave beyond 15 days won't be granted for any reason and that I've signed the contract. But the same contract also mentions 9 am to 5 pm work hours, and yet we're made to work beyond that. Contractual staff work much more than those in permanent posts. Do we complain? No. If they treat the contract as the bible, why make us work beyond its terms?" she asked.

At KB Bhabha Hospital, another doctor, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, "I got pregnant between two contracts. When it was time to renew, my department head asked me to resign, saying that maternity leave isn't allowed on contract. I didn't resign but stopped going to work due to my health. Now they won't renew or let me rejoin - they just want my resignation."

Authorities respond

When questioned, Dr Sangeeta Ravat, dean, KEM Hospital, said, "We have never said no to pregnancy leave. But we cannot give paid leave for six months to those on contract because the corporation rules do not allow us to do so. Regarding the court case, we have taken legal opinion from MCGM's legal advisors and are acting accordingly."

Responding to the issue, Dr Neelam Andrade, director of medical education and hospitals, BMC, said, "Maternity leave is given to regular employees. Contractual employees have a break in services every 90 days or so, so no such leave is mentioned in the office order of a contractual employee. They are given 15 days of casual leaves (CL) and 15 days of special casual leave to attend conferences, seminars, workshops and such. I had put up a proposal for CLs for them and special CLs, which was allotted for them to avail. In the case of pregnancy leave matter, it is more of a policy decision which is not made at my level." BMC Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani and DMC Health, Sharad Ughade, were unavailable for comment despite multiple attempts made by mid-day.

Law for adopted children

Rakesh KL Kapoor, Advocate practicing lawyer in Bombay High Court
"Female government employees get 180 days maternity leave if the adopted child is less than a year old. However, even this is given only to those on permanent posts and not to those on contract," said Advocate Rakesh K L Kapoor, practicing lawyer in Bombay High Court. The Act also allows a 12-week paid leave for the ‘commissioning mother' and the ‘adopting mother' from the date the child is handed over. This also is irrespective of whether the employee is hired on a permanent post or on a contract basis. "In my opinion, as long as they are employed, either contractual or not, they must get leave. Do adopted children not need complete attention and care to assimilate into the adopted home?" questioned the advocate.