Rajasthan Government Grants 180-Day Maternity Leave To Surrogate Mothers, 90 Days To Commissioning Mothers

In Rajasthan, the government has recently introduced a significant change to its service rules, granting maternity leave to surrogate and commissioning mothers. According to a notification issued by the state government, female government employees aged between 25 and 35 who are also parents can now avail themselves of up to 180 days of maternity leave when they become surrogate mothers.

This entitlement is applicable only to approved surrogacy procedures as per the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act 2021. The employee must submit a certificate from an authorized medical board or health officer to avail of this benefit.

Commissioning mothers, those without any surviving biological, adopted, or surrogate children, will also be granted 90 days of maternity leave for childcare. This leave is limited to the birth of a maximum of two children or surrogacy cases throughout the employee's entire service period. The Personnel Department stated that the new provision aims to clear up administrative difficulties that female employees previously faced when seeking leave approvals for surrogacy cases.

State authorities had previously rejected Keswani's application for maternity leave, citing the absence of such provisions in the Rajasthan Service Rules, 1951. However, the Rajasthan High Court had previously ruled in 2023 that a surrogate mother is entitled to maternity leave, emphasizing that there should be no distinction between a biological mother and a surrogate/commissioning mother.