SRINAGAR, July 11: Justice Rajnesh Oswal after hearing in WP(C) No. 3509/2025 titled Dr Sonakshi Gupta and Others has quashed a Government Communication that denied pay and allowances to Senior Residents and Tutors during maternity leave, holding that the State cannot penalize women Doctors for motherhood.
The court directed the Union Territory administration to release full salary and allowances for the maternity leave period as well as for the extended residency period corresponding to the leave availed.
Justice Oswal said the respondents had acted in “a glaring departure from its character as a compassionate welfare State” by seeking to penalise women for “the foundational human experience of motherhood.”
The court observed that maternity benefits are an extension of a woman’s constitutional right to live with dignity and held that depriving women doctors of their salaries during one of the most vulnerable phases of their lives amounted to “a profound constitutional injury.”
Allowing the petition, the High Court quashed the October 14, 2025 communication insofar as it denied pay and allowances during maternity leave and directed the government to grant full pay and allowances during maternity leave as well as during the extended period of residency corresponding to the leave period.
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