JUDGMENT :

Pankaj Purohit, J.

Heard learned counsel for the parties.

2. Petitioner has challenged the order dated 28.10.2022 passed by respondent no.3 (Annexure No.4 to the writ petition), whereby, maternity leave was denied to the petitioner, alongwith order dated 09.11.2022 passed by respondent no.3 (Annexure No.6 to the writ petition), whereby, her service was terminated by the respondent-Director, Department of Horticulture and Food Processing, Uttarakhand.

3. The case of the petitioner is that she was initially engaged as Manager Enterprise Development (Non-Gazetted Post) on 01.10.2021, under the Scheme of Prime Minister Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Scheme (PMFME) in the State Programme Management Unit (SPMU). The petitioner moved an application (Annexure No.3 to the writ petition) on 10.10.2022 requesting maternity leave w.e.f. 10.10.2022 for upcoming 26 weeks.

4. The said application was rejected by the impugned order dated 28.10.2022 by the Nodal Officer/Director-respondent no.2, stating therein that the benefit of maternity leave is available only in those Offices, where there are minimum 10 employees working, while under the Scheme SPMU-PMFME, only 05 emp