Hyderabad: Telangana high court on Wednesday ruled that a woman govt employee is entitled to mandatory 180 days of paid maternity leave for her second delivery even if she had twins during her first delivery.Justice K Sharath issued directions while hearing a writ petition filed by V Narmada, a secondary-grade teacher at Utkoor upper primary school in Narayanpet district. In July this year too, the high court had granted a similar relief to a govt lecturer working in Mancherial district, whose maternity leave was denied by authorities on the same grounds.Narmada applied for maternity leave on Sept 21, 2026, for her second delivery. However, the mandal education officer rejected her request the same day under a govt order and Fundamental Rule 101, which allow maternity leave only to woman govt employees having fewer than two surviving children. The order said Narmada already had two children as twins were born in her first delivery.Challenging the rejection order, Narmada approached the high court through a writ petition filed with the support of the Telangana State Contributory Pension Scheme Employees Union.Senior counsel Qasim Bhasha Wali, appearing for the petitioner, argued that her first delivery took place before she had joined govt service and that the birth of twins could not be treated as a ground to deny maternity leave for her second delivery.The respondents relied on the existing rule and contended that leave could not be granted because the petitioner already had two living children.After hearing both sides, the court observed that maternity leave rules must be applied with a welfare approach.“Birth of twins is a natural biological process beyond a woman’s control and maternity rights cannot be curtailed in the name of population control,” the court observed.The court further suspended the rejection order and directed the education department to grant Narmada 180 days of maternity leave with full salary.
