Supreme Court to examine legality of maternity leave cap for adoptive mothers under Social Security
New Delhi: More than 11 months after reserving its verdict, the Supreme Court has decided to examine the constitutional validity of a provision in the Code on Social Security, 2020, that restricts maternity leave for adoptive mothers to cases where the adopted child is below three months of age.
A bench comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and KV Viswanathan has permitted Karnataka-based lawyer Hamsaanandini Nanduri to amend her pending petition to directly challenge Section 60(4) of the 2020 Code. The provision, which came into force last month, mirrors an earlier clause in the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, despite that law now standing repealed.
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The court noted that although it had reserved judgment in Nanduri’s petition on January 29, 2025, the Union government proceeded to notify the Social Security Code on November 21, 2025, retaining the very restriction under challenge, as reported by Hindustan times. Observing that Section 60(4) of the new Code is pari materia with Section 5(4) of the 1961 Act, the bench allowed the amendment and said the matter would be listed for pronouncement of judgment after the revised plea is placed on record.
Under Section 60(4), an adoptive mother is entitled to 12 weeks of maternity leave only if the adopted child is under three months old. The law does not provide any maternity leave for adoptions involving older children, including those who are orphaned, abandoned or surrendered.
In her petition, which was originally filed in 2021, Nanduri has argued that the provision is arbitrary and discriminatory. She also mentioned that it was violating Articles 14, 19(1)(g) and 21 of the Constitution. She has contended that the law creates unreasonable distinctions between biological and adoptive mothers, between different categories of adoptive mothers, and even among adopted children themselves.
Nanduri, who became an adoptive mother in 2017, adopted two siblings through the Central Adoption Resource Authority, a four-and-a-half-year-old girl and her two-year-old brother, after authorities made it clear that the children could not be separated. When she applied for maternity leave, her employer informed her that she was eligible for only six weeks’ leave per child, as neither met the statutory age requirement of three months.
Describing the provision as offering only “lip service” to adoptive parents, Nanduri has maintained that the restriction fails to recognise the emotional, physical and caregiving demands involved in adopting older children, many of whom come from vulnerable backgrounds.
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Mathura boat capsize tragedy: Death toll climbs to 13
Mathura (UP)(PTI): With the recovery of two more bodies on Sunday, the death toll in the boat capsize incident in the Yamuna river in Mathura has climbed to 13, officials said on Sunday.
Search for three more missing persons is underway.
Superintendent of Police (Rural) Suresh Chandra Rawat said renewed search efforts led to the recovery of the body of a college student, identified as Dinki Bansal, near Devraha Baba Ghat and that of a man identified as Rishabh Sharma approximately 3 km away from the accident site.
The incident occurred on Friday afternoon when a boat carrying over two dozen tourists, primarily from Punjab, hit a floating drum of a pontoon bridge and capsized near Kesi Ghat in Vrindavan.
Most of the victims were from Jagraon and Dugri areas of Ludhiana district.
Teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) along with the district administration and local police were actively engaged in the search for the missing pilgrims.
However, strong currents of the Yamuna river and the significant depth of the water at the ghats are proving a hindrance.
Circle Officer (Mant) Sandeep Singh said the Yamuna river stretch extending from Keshi Ghat to Gokul Barrage has been divided into seven sectors.
The search for the missing individuals will now be conducted within this specific 20-square-km zone. A Station House Officer (SHO) has been designated as the in-charge for each sector.
Acting on the orders of the DIG (Agra Range), seven SHOs will oversee operations across the seven sectors of river Yamuna.
Giving details about the operation, Additional District Magistrate (Finance and Revenue) Pankaj Kumar Verma, citing NDRF officials, on Saturday had said although the search for the missing persons is currently focused within a 14-km radius from the spot where the boat had capsized, there is a possibility that they may have been swept much further downstream.
SHO of Vrindavan police station Sanjay Pandey said boat operator Pappu was arrested late on Friday night.
He is accused of failing to provide life jackets to passengers before allowing them to board the boat, and operating the boat at high speed. This resulted in the boat losing control and colliding with a pontoon bridge's drum, which led to the accident, officials said.
Police have registered a case and also arrested the contractor, Narayan Sharma, responsible for the repair work on the pontoon bridge.
Rawat said that on Friday evening, police registered a case under section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against the boatman Pappu (alias Dauji) and Sharma, and subsequently arrested them.
According to the case details, Pappu's boat did not have any safety equipment or provisions whatsoever.
Moreover, despite repeated pleas from pilgrims, Pappu operated the boat at high speed. By the time he realised the danger upon approaching the pontoons of the bridge, it was already too late.
Consequently, after colliding with a pontoon drum, the boat lost control and capsized. It has also come to light that he is among those operators who have not obtained the requisite license to operate a boat.
Sharma was carrying out the work of dismantling and reassembling the pontoon bridge without providing any prior notification.
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