Contractual employees are entitled to full maternity benefits under the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, even after the expiration of their contracts, and the Act overrides any agreement or contract of service inconsistent with its provisions.

JUDGMENT :

The appellant, a pathology doctor, was appointed as Senior Resident (Pathology) in Janakpuri Super Speciality Hospital, an autonomous institute under the Government of N.C.T. of Delhi, on 6th June 2004. Her appointment letter specified that it was purely temporary and as per the residency scheme, such appointment was initially to be for a period of one year, extendable on yearly basis upto a maximum of three years. Her date of joining was 12th June 2014. Her services were extended twice, for one year period each, on 12th June 2015 and 12th June 2016. Her last extension was for the period of one year from 12th June 2016 to 11th June 2017. On 24th May 2017, she had applied for maternity benefits from 1st June 2017, in terms of Section 5 of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 (“the 1961 Act”). The employer, however, informed her that only 11 days of maternity benefits could be granted since, as per the residency scheme, her tenure came to an end on 11th June 2017 and no further extension was allowed/permissible under the applicable rules.

2. The appellant unsuccessfully challenged the said action before the Central Administrative Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delhi, and subsequently failed in the High Court also, on the very same reasoning based on which the employer had rejected her claim of maternity benefits for a total of 26 weeks in terms of the 1961 Act. The reasoning of the High Court would appear from paragraphs 8 and 9 of the judgment delivered on 19th August 2019, and we quote below the said two paragraphs:

“8. Reliance placed on Section 5(2) of the said Act by the petitioner to claim that once the female employee has rendered service for 180 days continuously prior to the expected date of delivery, she would be entitled to maternity benefit is, in our view, irrelevant, since the respondents have not denied the maternity benefit to the petitioner. The only issue is whether she would be entitled to such benefit after 11.6.2017, when her contract of employment ended.

9. Sub section (1) of Section 5 of the said Act provides that subject to provisions of the Act, every women should be entitled to, and her employer shall be liable for, the payment of maternity benefit at the rate of average daily wage “for the period of her actual absence ......” The use of the expression “actual absence” presupposes that but for the maternity leave, the women employee would be expected to remain “present”. However, where the contractual employment is time bound with an outer limit, and the same comes to an end during the period of pregnancy, or even after child birth, but during the period when the women employee would be entitled to avail of maternity benefits under the Act, there would be no question of the women employee remaining actually “absent”, since she would not be expected to remain present post the termination of her contractual employment. The purpose of the aforesaid Act is not to extend the period of the contract for which the woman employee is in service. If the submission of learned counsel for the petitioner is accepted that the petitioner should be granted leave for 180 days, despite her contract expiring within a few days from the start of maternity leave, it would clearly tantamount to unintended extension of the contractual employment.”

3. It is this judgment which is assailed before us. For effective adjudication of this appeal, we reproduce below the following provisions of the 1961 Act:

“5. Right to payment of maternity benefit. (1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, every woman shall be entitled to, and her employer shall be liable for, the payment of maternity benefit at the rate of the average daily wage for the period of her actual absence, that is to say, the period immediately preceding the day of her delivery, the actual day of her delivery and any period immediately following that day.

Explanation. – For the purpose of this subsection, the average daily wage means the average of the woman’s wages payab