14 July,2026 08:20 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
The woman delivered her child in June 2024, after her contractual appointment had ended, observed the Bombay High Court. File pic
Maternity benefits cannot be claimed after the expiry of a contractual appointment when there is no employer-employee relationship, the Bombay High Court (HC) has held while denying relief to an assistant professor who sought maternity leave and benefits from a suburban college, news agency PTI reported.
A division bench of Justices Girish Kulkarni and Aarti Sathe, in an order passed on Monday, observed that entitlement to maternity benefits must be examined within the framework of the law and the terms governing the employment of the woman seeking the benefit.
The court acknowledged the importance of maternity leave in safeguarding the dignity of motherhood and the health and welfare of both the mother and child.
"The importance of such benefit cannot be understated," the bench observed.
However, the court noted that in the present case, the woman had sought maternity benefits after the expiry of her ad hoc contractual appointment.
"We fail to comprehend in what capacity the respondent (woman) could claim maternity benefits from the college when she admittedly ceased to be its contract employee," the court said.
The bench observed that maternity benefits arise out of, and during the subsistence of, an employer-employee relationship. In this case, the woman delivered her child in June 2024, after her contractual appointment had ended.
"There was no employer-employee relationship between the college and the woman," the court said.
The court also noted that the woman was neither dismissed nor terminated during her pregnancy and that her contractual appointment had simply come to an end.
"The college neither terminated her services prematurely nor declined to renew her employment on account of her pregnancy or maternity. The cessation of service was the natural consequence of the expiry of a fixed-term ad hoc contractual appointment and not the result of any punitive or discriminatory action," the bench observed.
The court quashed a July 2025 order of the assistant commissioner of labour and the appellate authority under the Maternity Benefit Act, which had directed the college to pay Rs 2,43,500 towards maternity benefits.
The authority had also directed the college not to terminate the woman's services during her maternity leave period.
According to the court, the woman was appointed as an assistant professor on an ad hoc basis from June 2023 to April 2024.
In March 2024, she applied for maternity leave from June 14, informing the college that her expected date of delivery was July 18, 2024.
The college argued that she could not claim maternity benefits after the expiry of her contractual appointment. It maintained that she was never removed or terminated during her pregnancy and that her appointment had simply ended on completion of its fixed tenure.
The college further stated that after her contract expired, the woman had enquired whether she would be considered for a fresh appointment for the next academic year.
She was informed that a decision on a fresh appointment would be taken in June and that her request for maternity benefits would be considered only if she was reappointed.
However, she was not appointed for the following academic year as she was unable to resume duties after giving birth in June 2024.
In October 2024, the woman approached the labour authorities, alleging that she had been unlawfully terminated and wrongfully denied maternity benefits.
The high court, however, ruled that she was not entitled to maternity leave or benefits under the circumstances and set aside the labour authority's order.
(With PTI inputs)
