Bhubaneswar:

Orissa High Court has recently ruled that female employees who become mothers through surrogacy have the same right to maternity leave and other benefits as provided to natural and adoptive mothers.

The single judge bench of Justice SK Panigrahi gave the ruling on June 25 while hearing a petition filed by Supriya Jena, a female Odisha Finance Service (OFS) officer, in 2020.

Jena became a mother through surrogacy, but she was denied 180 days maternity leave by her higher authority in the Odisha government. So, she moved the high court against the government.

The court observed that a leave of 180 days is granted to female government employees on the adoption of a child up to one year of age in line with maternity leave as admissible to natural mothers for proper care of the adopted child.

However, there is no provision for maternity leave for the purpose of rearing a child blessed through surrogacy, it said.

“If the government could provide maternity leave to an adoptive mother, it would be wholly improper to refuse to provide maternity leave to a mother who had begotten a child through surrogacy procedure after implanting an embryo created by using either the eggs or sperm of the intended parents in the womb of a surrogate mother,” the court said.

It ruled that maternity leave should be granted to the employees who become mothers through surrogacy to ensure equal treatment and support for all new mothers, irrespective of how they become parents.

Providing maternity leave for these mothers ensures that they have the necessary time to create a stable and loving environment for their child, promoting the well-being of both the mother and the child, the high court said.

The court has directed the state government to sanction 180 days of maternity leave to the petitioner within three months of the communication of the order.

“It is further directed to the department concerned of the state to incorporate this aspect in the relevant provisions of the rules to treat a child born out of surrogacy in a similar manner as a child born out of the natural process and provide the commissioning mother with all the benefits provided thereto,” the judgment read.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Observing that a 14-year-old child cannot be treated as “chattel”, the Supreme Court has set aside an order of the Orissa High Court allowing the biological father of a girl her custody, saying she was living happily with her paternal aunt.

The top court, while hearing an appeal by the paternal aunt (father’s sister) against the high court order, said the stability of a child is of “paramount importance”.

It noted that the child, born in March 2014, has been living with the sister of her biological father since she was around three months old.

“It is not a case in which any of the parties is claiming adoption which otherwise is not permissible under Mohammedan law. Guardianship is also not being claimed. It is only the dispute regarding custody of the child,” a bench of Justices CT Ravikumar and Rajesh Bindal said.

In the judgment pronounced on Monday, the bench said it interacted with the child, who said she was happy living with the present family and that she did not wish to be “destabilised”.

The Supreme Court noted that when the child’s custody was given to the man’s sister, she was unmarried, but now she has two children.

This, however, was not a deterrent to the court’s verdict as the child categorically voiced her desire to continue living with her aunt.

“Keeping in view her age at present, she is capable of forming an opinion in that regard… She cannot be treated as a chattel at the age of 14 years to hand over her custody to respondent No 2 (biological father) where she has not lived ever since her birth. The stability of the child is also of paramount consideration,” the Supreme Court said.

The mother of the girl had given birth to twins in 2014. While the couple kept one of the two babies with them, they handed over the girl to her maternal grandmother for raising her. The maternal grandmother kept her for three months before handing her over to her aunt with whom she was living until the Odisha High Court order.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)