The Supreme Court on Monday said that it is the Constitutional duty of the state government to ensure that a mother who is taking care of a child with disabilities gets child care leaves. The top court directed the Himachal Pradesh government to set up a committee headed by the chief secretary of the state to take a policy decision on the issue of granting child-care leaves (CCLs) to the working women having children with disabilities. The said committee will also have secretaries of women and child development and the social welfare department of the state and it will have to take a decision on the issue by July 31.
A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice J B Pardiwala expressed serious concerns over the issue and said that denying child-care leaves to a mother who is taking care of a child with disabilities, would violate the constitutional duty of the State to ensure equal participation of women in the workforce.
The bench said that the plea raised a serious issue of participation of women in the workforce and held that CCLs in such a case were not a matter of privilege but a constitutional requirement.
The top court also made Centre a party to the case and sought the assistance of Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati.
The case stems from a petition by a woman assistant professor in the Department of Geography in the Himachal. She moved the top court after she exhausted her quote of santioned leaves as her son suffers from a genetic disorder and had undergone several surgeries since birth. The woman moved court contending that the central civil service rules provided for CCLs.
The bench said that CCLs are part of an important constitutional objective where women are not denied an equal opportunity in the workforce. The court said that denial of such leaves may force a working mother to leave the job and it is more crucial for a woman having a child with special needs.
The court asked the Himachal government to revise its policy on CCL and make it consistent with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.