The Punjab and Haryana High Court has held that an employee’s right to claim child care leave cannot override larger public interest considerations, particularly where the absence of a specialist doctor could adversely affect public healthcare services.
The assertion by the Division Bench of Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor came during the hearing of an appeal filed by a doctor who had challenged the rejection of her request for 609 days of child care leave.
The doctor’s plea was initially placed before a single Judge after the competent authority declined the leave on the ground that the predominant interest of public health would suffer due to lack of a requisite medical specialist. The matter was placed before the Division Bench after the single Judge refused to interfere with the order.
“We do not take exception to the view of the single Judge as the right of an employee to claim child care leave must always remain subservient to predominant public interest,” the Division Bench observed while taking up the doctor’s appeal.
During the hearing of the appeal, the counsel for the appellant doctor submitted that she would be willing to restrict her claim to 300 days instead of 609, if the matter could be reconsidered afresh without being influenced by the earlier orders. The state did not oppose the request.
Taking note of the submissions, the Division Bench permitted the appellant to withdraw both appeal and the writ petition, while granting liberty to approach the competent authority with a fresh claim for 300 days of leave. The authority was asked to take the fresh decision within four weeks of receiving a certified copy of the order.
