Punjab and Haryana high court has held
that a woman employee can’t be denied leave if shortage of staff in the
department is due to government’s fault. The order is significant for
cases related to the entitlement of child care leave (CCL) to women
employees.
The HC passed these orders on a plea
filed by a government doctor in Haryana who was denied CCL on the
grounds of insufficient number of medical specialists in the health
department. Court found that the government was at fault in failing to
fill up vacancies of medical specialists and the employees cannot suffer
for it.
Justice Amol Rattan Singh passed these
orders while allowing a petition filed by Dr Kanchan Bala -a medical
specialist posted at Jagadhari in Yamunanagar district. In her plea, the
petitioner had stated that she was not granted CCL at a time her
daughter was in Class XII, a crucial period, and below 18 years of age.
Contesting her petition, the state
government submitted that CCL shall only be granted if it does not
disrupt the functioning of the depart ment concerned. It was further
argued that she was denied CCL on the ground that there was only one
other medical specialist available at the ESI hospital at Jagadhari,
other than her.
On examination of record, the HC asked
the government about delay in recruitment of doctors. The state informed
the court that a requisition was sent for recruitment of medical
officers to Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) in 2016 and another
on September 29 after filing of the present petition.
The HC then observed, “Even though rules
provide that CCL would not be granted if it disrupts the functioning of
offices institutions schools etc, the government, in my opinion, cannot
be allowed to take advantage of its own fault, to deny a right which
has been statutorily recognized by it, and correctly recognized, seeing
the future of children who would make future doctors engineers
bureaucrats etc of the country .”
In its order, passed last week, the
judge also asked the government to engage a medical specialist on
contract basis to meet the requirements during the CCL period of the
petitioner.