- (1.) Petitioner prays for release of salary/benefits for the period of maternity leave availed by her from 23.10.2012 to 25.04.2013. Brief facts are that, petitioner was appointed as a Senior Research Fellow in Sikhism on contractual basis on 13.12.2011 with respondent No.1 Sri Guru Granth Sahib World University, Fatehgarh Sahib. She submitted an application for maternity leave on 17.10.2012. Petitioner on being informed that there is no provision for grant of maternity leave to contractual/adhoc employees of the University, submitted another application dated 23.10.2012 for being granted maternity leave without pay. Petitioner was granted maternity leave without pay w.e.f. 25.10.2012 till 25.01.2013. She requested for extension of maternity leave by another three months on 17.01.2013. Her request was accepted and maternity leave without pay was extended till 25.04.2013 (Annexure P6).
(2.) Petitioner joined duty on expiry of the leave period. She however resigned from service on 05.09.2013. As she did not give required notice of one month prior to her resignation, she submitted one month's salary in lieu of the notice period. After a period of about three months, she submitted a representation asking for release of salary for the period of her maternity leave as well as employee's provident fund. However when the dues were not released, she approached this Court for redressal of her grievance. In the present writ petition, claim is restricted to release of the salary for the period of maternity leave availed by her.
(3.) Learned counsel for respondents submits that University rules do not provide for grant of leave during the maternity period to adhoc/contractual staff. Benefit under the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, is also not available to the petitioner as the University is neither a shop or an industrial establishment as per Section 2 of the said Act. Furthermore, petitioner herself accepted maternity leave without pay. She herself asked for the said concession without pay when she was informed that the rules do not permit maternity leave to contractual/adhoc employees. A project report submitted by the petitioner at the time of her resignation when evaluated from internal and external expert revealed that she has resorted to plagiarism which is against the established academic principles and ethics. When she was asked to explain her position in the matter, present writ petition has been filed as a counter-blast to the action taken by the University.;