Srinagar, July 11: The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has held that maternity leave is a constitutional right rooted in the dignity of women and cannot be treated as a matter of State charity, while directing the Jammu and Kashmir administration to release full salaries and allowances to women doctors during their maternity leave.

Justice Rajnesh Oswal delivered the ruling while hearing a petition filed by senior residents and tutors engaged in government medical colleges under the Jammu and Kashmir Medical and Dental Education (Appointment on Academic Arrangement Basis) Rules, 2020.
The petitioners had challenged a communication issued on October 14, 2025, by the Health and Medical Education Department, based on the Finance Department's advice, which denied them salaries during maternity leave on the ground that they were "out of assignment."
The dispute arose despite a government order issued on July 8, 2024, extending maternity leave benefits to senior residents and tutors in accordance with the existing government rules. The petitioners argued that they were never informed that availing maternity leave would result in the withholding of their salaries.
The Union Territory administration contended that the petitioners were tenure-based appointees and not regular government employees, and therefore were not entitled to paid maternity leave. It also argued that the extension of their tenure after maternity leave was only to enable them to complete their academic training.
Rejecting the government's stand, the High Court held that the July 2024 order clearly extended maternity leave in accordance with prevailing service rules, making the petitioners entitled to both maternity leave and the corresponding salary and allowances.
The Court observed that the right to paid maternity leave is inseparable from the right to maternity leave itself and cannot be defeated by an executive order.
"Maternity leave cannot be reduced to a matter of State charity; it is an unassailable constitutional right anchored in the dignity of women. The right to full emoluments is an organic corollary of the right to leave itself, which cannot be defeated by an arbitrary executive fiat," the Court observed.
Accordingly, the High Court quashed the October 14, 2025 communication and directed the administration to release the petitioners' full salaries and allowances for the maternity leave period.
The petitioners were represented by Advocate Abhinav Jamwal, while Additional Advocate General Raman Sharma, assisted by Advocate Saliqa Sheikh, appeared for the Union Territory.