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Informist, Tuesday, Mar. 17, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court Tuesday held that women who legally adopt children should be entitled to maternity benefits for twelve weeks irrespective of the child's age. Section 60(4) of the Code on Social Security, 2020 Code, which puts an age limit of three months on the age of the child for the mothers to avail maternity benefit, is violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution, the top court said.

 

The right of reproductive autonomy is not confined to the biological act of giving birth, the top court said. Adoption is an equal exercise of the right to reproductive and decisional autonomy under Article 21 of the Constitution, the court said.

 

The distinction drawn by Section 60(4) of the 2020 Code does not have a rational nexus with the object of the law, the court said. The object of maternity benefit was not associated with the process of childbirth, but with the process of motherhood, it said. The purpose of maternity protection does not vary with the manner in which the child is brought into life, the court said. As for roles, responsibilities, and caregiving obligations, women who adopt a child aged above three months are similar to those who adopt a child below the age of three months, the court said.

 

The process of adjustment and integration within the family for the parents and the child remains substantially the same irrespective of the child's age, the court said. The classification by the 2020 Code overlooked the significant emotional, psychological, and practical adjustments required of the adopting parents and the adopted child, more particularly, in cases involving children with disabilities or single adoptive mothers, it said.

 

With regard to the time required to declare a child legally free for adoption, by the time such a declaration is made, the child is unlikely to be less than three months old, the court said. Thus, the age limit renders the provision illusory and devoid of practical application, it said.

 

Further, the bench of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice R. Mahadevan urged the Centre to introduce a provision recognising paternity leave as a social security benefit. "We emphasise that the duration of such leave must be determined in a manner that is responsive to the needs of both the parent and the child," the court said.

 

The top court said that there exists an injustice, although not deliberate, yet based on assumptions so deeply rooted that they have ceased to appear as injustice at all, and have come to be accepted as the natural order of things in society. Society has historically attributed caregiving and nurturing responsibilities almost exclusively to mothers, the court said. While the role of a mother is undeniably central to a child's emotional, physical, and psychological development, it would be incomplete and unjust to overlook the equally significant role of a father, the court said.

 

Parenthood is not a solitary function performed by one parent but rather a shared responsibility in which each parent contributes to the child's holistic development, the court said. A provision for paternity leave serves an important purpose by enabling fathers to participate meaningfully in the early stages of a child's life and development, the court said. 

 

Currently, male government servants are given 15 days of paternity leave for the birth of a child or for adoption. Recently, a private member's bill was introduced in Parliament seeking to grant eight weeks of paternity leave. 

 

The top court was hearing a petition by Hamsaanandini Nanduri, an adoptive mother, against the law allowing only those mothers who legally adopt a child below the age of three months to seek maternity benefits for 12 weeks.   End

  

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Saji George Titus

 

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