{"id":44,"date":"2026-05-16T08:32:48","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T08:32:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/livesach.com\/en\/?p=44"},"modified":"2026-05-16T08:32:56","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T08:32:56","slug":"supreme-court-expands-maternity-leave-adoptive-mothers-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/livesach.com\/en\/supreme-court-expands-maternity-leave-adoptive-mothers-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court Landmark Ruling: Maternity Leave Expanded for All Adoptive Mothers Regardless of Child’s Age"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In a major victory for adoptive parents across India, the Supreme Court has struck down a restrictive clause that limited maternity benefits based on the age of the adopted child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the landmark case of Hamsaanandini Nanduri v. Union of India<\/em>, a two-judge bench comprising Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan delivered a progressive judgment, ensuring that all adoptive mothers are entitled to 12 weeks of statutory maternity leave, irrespective of how old the child is at the time of adoption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Striking Down the “Three-Month” Rule<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Previously, under Section 60(4) of the Code on Social Security, 2020<\/strong>, an adoptive mother was granted the 12-week maternity benefit only if the adopted child was below the age of three months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given that the legal and administrative process of adoption in India is notoriously lengthy, adopting a child under three months is practically impossible for most parents. This restriction effectively deprived thousands of adoptive mothers of their rightful bonding time and maternity benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unconstitutional and Discriminatory<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Supreme Court ruled that the three-month age restriction was arbitrary and unconstitutional. The bench noted that it violated two fundamental rights:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Article 14:<\/strong> The Right to Equality before the law. The court found that discriminating between biological mothers and adoptive mothers based on the infant’s age was unjustified.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Article 21:<\/strong> The Right to Life and Personal Liberty, which the courts have long interpreted to include the right to dignity. Denying maternity leave hinders the fundamental right of a mother and child to bond with dignity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Impact of the Verdict<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    This ruling is a significant step forward in Indian family and labor law. The Code on Social Security, 2020, which consolidates various labor laws including the Maternity Benefit Act of 1961, will now apply equitably to all adoptive mothers in the organized sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Child rights activists and legal experts have lauded the verdict, stating that maternity leave is not just for physical recovery from childbirth, but fundamentally about allowing a mother and her new child time to attach, adapt, and build a secure family environment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In a major victory for adoptive parents across India, the Supreme Court has struck down a restrictive clause that limited maternity benefits based on the age of the adopted child. In the landmark case of Hamsaanandini Nanduri v. Union of India, a two-judge bench comprising Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan delivered a progressive judgment, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[23,27,25,28,26,24,22],"class_list":["post-44","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal","tag-adoptive-mothers","tag-article-14","tag-code-on-social-security-2020","tag-family-law-india","tag-justice-jb-pardiwala","tag-maternity-benefit-act","tag-supreme-court-of-india"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/livesach.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/livesach.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/livesach.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livesach.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livesach.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/livesach.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46,"href":"https:\/\/livesach.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44\/revisions\/46"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livesach.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/livesach.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livesach.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livesach.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}