Haryana Government has decided that the maternity leave will now be admissible to the commissioning mother as well as surrogate mother in the state.

A written communication has been sent in this regard by the Finance Department to all the Administrative Secretaries, Heads of Departments, Heads of Board, Corporations and Universities under the State Government, Divisional Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners and Sub Divisional Officers (Civil) and the Registrar, Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh.

“The decision has been taken according to the policy decision of Government of India in this regard taken in view of a decision of the  Delhi High Court that a female employee who is the commissioning mother would also be entitled for maternity leave,” said an official spokesman. 

He said that as per the written communication, it has been decided that the maternity leave benefit will now be admissible to commissioning mother, that is, the female employee who engages the services of another female to conceive a child  and also to the surrogate mother, that is, the female employee who bears a child on behalf of another woman  on the same terms and conditions as prescribed for maternity leave admissible to a female employee who conceives and carries the child.

In a situation where both the commissioning mother and the surrogate mother are employees, who are otherwise eligible for maternity leave (one on the ground that she is a commissioning mother and the another on the ground that she is the pregnant woman), a suitable adjustment regarding grant of maternity leave at the same time or otherwise would be made by the competent authority, the spokesman said.

The competent authority for this purpose of grant of maternity leave would be the Head of Department, he added.