The Madhya Pradesh High Court has held that contractual employees of state government establishments are entitled to child care leave, and imposed a personal fine of ₹50,000 on an official who denied it. The single bench of Justice Vishal Dhagat ruled that departmental circulars cannot override judicial orders interpreting the law.
The case concerned Ayesha Sheikh, a contractual employee from Khandwa, whose child care leave application was rejected on July 16, 2026. The director of the Rajya Shiksha Kendra (State Education Centre) had turned down the request, citing a General Administration Department circular dated July 22, 2023 that, in the department’s reading, barred contractual staff from availing child care leave.
Appearing for the petitioner, advocate Nikhil Tiwari told the court that single benches, division benches and the Supreme Court had repeatedly clarified the entitlement of contractual staff to child care leave, yet officials continued to cite older circulars to deny it. The court noted that the petitioner had been forced to approach it repeatedly to secure a statutory right.
The court held that reading Rule 38-C of the Madhya Pradesh Civil Services (Leave) Rules, 1977 together with the provisions of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, contractual employees should receive child care leave of up to 240 days. It grounded the reasoning in Articles 38 and 39 of the Constitution, which cast a duty on the state to frame welfare policies.
“The court is the final interpreter of law, and until a decision is altered by a larger bench or the Supreme Court, it is the responsibility of all administrative officers to follow it,” the bench observed, adding that judicial orders cannot be disregarded on the basis of any government circular or departmental guideline.
The court set aside the July 16 order, directed the department to grant the leave immediately, and imposed the ₹50,000 personal fine on State Education Centre director Harjinder Singh, to be deposited with the High Court’s Registrar General within 30 days. It ordered copies of the judgment sent to the Principal Secretary and the Advocate General to prevent future non-compliance.
The ruling adds to a line of High Court decisions across India, including in Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand, extending child care leave protections to contractual and other government employees.
