Maternity leave is a matter of right and cannot be clubbed with regular leave availed of by oneself, the Kerala High Court has said.
A Bench of Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas was hearing a plea by a woman doctor from Ernakulam who approached the court challenging the alleged refusal of the National Board of Examinations in Medical Science (NBEMS) to approve 402 days of leave the trainee had availed of herself. This included 184 days of maternity leave.
The board contended that trainees would be disqualified from continuing their programme if the total leave availed of by them exceeded a year. The petitioner said she had to undergo treatment for an aggressive form of blood cancer, apart from her maternity leave.
Allowing her plea, the court observed that extraordinary situations required extraordinary approach and that the general rule limiting leave to a year cannot be mechanically applied to exceptional cases such as that of the petitioner.
Published – February 04, 2026 08:44 pm IST
