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Is absence due to pregnancy unwillingness to work ?

In INSPECTOR (MAHILA) RAVINA vs Union of India, the promotion of a (Mahila) Inspector GD in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was blocked since as per the Department she “had shown unwillingness to attend the promotional course‟. The Petitioner argued that she was in Stage III of her pregnancy and therefore could not attend the necessary courses.

The main question which this court has to decide is whether the Petitioner’s pregnancy would amount to unwillingness or signify her inability to attend a required promotional course and if she is entitled to a relaxation of rules to claim seniority at par with her batchmates.

The court allowed the petitioners plea by stating that ….to conclude that pregnancy amounts to mere unwillingness - as the respondents did in this case- was an indefensible. The choice to bear a child is not only a deeply personal one for a family but is also a physically taxing time for the mother. This right to reproduction and child rearing is an essential facet of Article 21 of the Constitution……..

12. It would be a travesty of justice if a female public employee were forced to choose between having a child and her career. This is exactly what the CRPF‟s position entails. Pregnancy is a departure from an employee‟s “normal” condition and to equate both sets of public employees- i.e. those who do not have to make such choice and those who do (like the petitioner) and apply the same standards mechanically is discriminatory.

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