The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a plea challenging the constitutional validity of a provision of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, which allows three-month maternity leave to a woman who legally adopts a child below the age of three months.

The petitioner alleges the purported 12 weeks of maternity benefit to adoptive mothers is not only a “mere lip service but when juxtaposed with the maternity benefit of 26 weeks provided to biological mothers, fails to stand even the basic scrutiny of Part III of the Constitution which is wedded to the concept of non-arbitrariness”.

The next date of hearing is on 28th April, 2023.