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On Friday, the Delhi High Court allowed a medical student to undergo a Doctor of Medicine (DM) examination, stating that she cannot be denied of her right to appear in the exam just because she has taken maternity leave. Judge C. Hari Shankar stated that the provisions of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 would apply to students like the petitioner in addition to employees in accordance with the Memorandum, dated 4th December 2015. In particular, the High Court of Kerala, in June 2016, established that a B.Ed student in pregnancy cannot apply for any special exemption due to her pregnancy to take an exam.
Although Justice Shankar ruled in favour of its application, considering the terms of the petitioner's engagement with her institute, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). He added that he is also convinced by the fact that the Maternity Benefit Law, as an act of social welfare legislation, its scope and reach thereof should be as broad as possible, instead of being limited by pedantic considerations of words or phrases. Such a denial of the right to appear in the examination, leading to a delay in recognizing DM qualification to her would violate Article 42 of the Constitution of India which requires the State to grant just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief.
The court observed that unfavourable consequences can never be allowed to violate the rights of a woman, merely due to the fact that she availed maternity leave, perhaps in excess of the maximum leave allowed, provided, of course, maternity leave was necessary and essential for the health of the mother and child.
The court was hearing a petition filed by Dr. Ankita Baidya, a Senior Resident of AIIMS, who was seeking the institute’s direction to be allowed to take the final DM examination. The Memorandum regulating admission to the course included a provision of 24 days leave in the first year, 30 days of leave in the second year and 36 days in the third year. Any other leave was not stipulated for the course participants. It provided that an extension of the leave would result in postponement of the exam for a session. However, the petitioner requested 180 days of maternity leave during the course due to her pregnancy. Her leave application was allowed. But AIIMS had informed her that the DM qualification would be postponed for 6 months due to the leave and she would be permitted to appear in the final examinations in May 2019, instead of December 2018.
In May 2018, she sent a representation to AIMS, requesting that maternity leave be granted to her should not be considered an "extension of leave" but it was rejected.
Since the petitioner has never requested for an extension, the court ruled that the petitioner's right to undertake the DM exam in December 2018 cannot be withheld. However, her participation in the examination would necessarily be subject to compliance with all other requirements or preconditions that must be met to allow it to be carried out.
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