AMARAVATI: The Andhra Pradesh High Court High Court on Saturday directed the government to grant maternity leave to a medical professor i to take care of her newborns who were born through surrogacy.

The AP HC bench of Justice Ninala Jayasurya while passing the interim orders, found fault with the officials of the Rangaraya Medical for denying maternity leave to Dr BVV Kiranmai where she works, to take care of her new born twins as she was a surrogate mother.Her husband Undamatla Muralikrishna worked as an auditor in Kakinada.Dr B V V Kiranmai, who works as an associate professor at Rangaraya medical college in Kakinada. She had become mother to twins in December through surrogacy. After being denied maternity leave for taking care of twins, she filed a writ petition on the 24^th of December and sought the court’s help in this matter.

Her counsel argued that denial of maternity leave to a commissioning mother is against fundamental rights.

The government pleader meanwhile requested the court to give time for filing a counter, which was denied by the bench. In its interim orders the court sanctioned leave considering the matter as a special case, adding that the duration of the leave would be based on the final judgment. The matter was posted for further hearing on February 3^rd.

In a similar instance in March last year, the Himachal Pradesh high court in an order stated that a woman employee cannot be denied maternity leave even if she has become a mother through surrogacy.

A division bench, comprising justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan and justice Sandeep Sharma, passed these orders on the petition filed by a woman language teacher working on contract basis in Kullu district.

The Himachal Pradesh court observed that it’s no longer res integra (a case without a precedent) that a woman contractual or ad hoc employee is entitled to maternity leave on a par with a regular woman employee on grounds of fair play and social justice and there cannot be any discrimination.