The Hindu Business Line : Maternity Benefit Act directly applicable to plantation labour, rules HC

Chennai, Sept. 18 The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 was directly applicable to plantation labour by virtue of Section 32 of the Plantations Labour Act, 1951, the Madras High Court has held.

Mr. Justice K. Chandru, who heard a writ petition by an assistant employed by the TN Tea Plantation Corporation, a State Government undertaking, challenging an order dated 22-4-1992 of the Chairman/Managing Director of the corporation discharging her from service, ruled that maternity benefit could not be denied to any employee, and under Section 6(6) of the Act, failure to give notice by a woman regarding her maternity leave would not disentitle her from getting the said benefit.

The employee, Ms V. Mythili, was appointed on 25-5-1981, and the management found she started applying for various kinds of leave. Within a period of six years, she had applied for leave for three years and 11 months, unauthorisedly and on loss of pay. While she was working at Coonoor, she was directed to appear for an enquiry on 6-1-1990. She did not attend the enquiry. She once again applied for maternity leaves for 90 days from 15-5-1990 and she claimed the said leave after two months of the delivery of the child. The management did not grant the salary for the said period.

The petitioner was given a final chance to join duty on 3-3-1992, and as she did not join duty, her service was discharged from 22-4-1992. She challenged the management’s order and hence the present petition.

The judge said that no exception could be taken by the petitioner to the action taken by the management, which had given her a long rope. However, it could not be stated that she was not entitled to maternity leave since the law was applicable to the plantation labour. While dismissing the case, the judge directed to the corporation to pay the petitioner three months’ wages towards maternity benefit, and also four months’ wages towards retrenchment benefits, altogether seven months’ wages.

More Stories on : Courts/Legal Issues | Plantations | Gender | Tamil Nadu

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Rain deficit gets cut back to 2%

Maternity Benefit Act directly applicable to plantation labour, rules HC

Pay special attention to fertiliser supply, AP Collectors told

Spot rubber slips on selling pressure

Campco wants to enter rubber segment

Small growers seek representation on Tea Board

Pepper futures recover on buying support

Quality fears grip tea sector as exports rise