The Punjab & Haryana High Court has ruled that an employee’s services cannot be terminated while they are on maternity leave.

Justice Harsimran Singh Sethi, presiding over the case, emphasized that once maternity leave is granted, it cannot be shortened to facilitate termination. The court ordered the state to pay arrears of salary to the affected employee and stated that any termination would only take effect once the sanctioned maternity leave had ended.

The court stated, “Once an employee is on maternity leave, the leave period cannot be shortened to terminate their services. Employment can only be ended once the employee returns after completing their maternity leave.”

The case arose from petitions filed by temporary employees seeking regularization of their services. The petitioners argued that they had been working continuously in their respective roles without interim protection from the court, indicating that their services were still necessary. They contested being replaced by another set of temporary employees under the same terms, as such a replacement would impose unnecessary hardship on them.

One petitioner, Balvir Kaur, challenged her termination while on maternity leave, claiming it was unjust and violated her rights to maternity leave protections. 

The State, in defense, referred to a previous ruling (Bikramjit Singh and Others v. State of Punjab and Others) in which a similar regularization claim was denied. However, they failed to provide a valid reason for terminating Balvir Kaur’s employment by curtailing her maternity leave.

The court ordered that petitioners who were still employed would continue in service until their roles were no longer needed, subject to their satisfactory performance. It reaffirmed the legal principle that temporary employees cannot be replaced by other temporary employees under the same terms.

In Balvir Kaur’s case, the court found that the maternity leave granted to her had been wrongly curtailed to facilitate her termination. The bench ruled, “The respondents have failed to provide a valid justification for shortening the maternity leave to terminate her services. Hence, Balvir Kaur is entitled to her salary for the duration of the maternity leave, and her termination will only be effective once the leave period concludes.”

Finally, the court instructed the state to release Kaur’s pending salary within eight weeks, affirming that she was entitled to her full salary for the leave period.

Cause Title: Ravisan and others v State of Punjab and others and other connected matters [CWP-9174-2018 (O&M) and others]