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The Allahabad High Court has directed Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Technical University, Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow to frame rules for grant of prenatal and postnatal support and other maternity benefits to expectant or new mother students of various courses. 

Dealing with a case wherein a B.Tech student of 2013-14 batch of the University was not given another chance to clear her semester exams which she couldn't clear earlier as she was an expectant mother then, the bench of Justice Ajay Bhanot observed,

"It is a fundamental right of a woman to give birth to a child under the law decided by various constitutional courts. No woman can be denied this right and maternity benefits."

The University has accordingly been directed to create Regulations/Ordinances/appropriate legal instruments for the grant of maternity benefits to such students, which will also include additional chances to clear the exams in an enlarged time frame.

Regarding the instant petition, the Court held that the petitioner is entitled to an additional chance to appear in the examinations as she cannot be denied maternity benefits on the foot that the University Ordinances or University Regulations do not provide such relaxation. Court said, "The University is under an obligation of law to frame the requisite regulations."

Therefore, Court has directed the University to permit the petitioner student to avail another chance to clear her two exams (one from 3rd semester and the other from 2nd semester) of her B.Tech. (Electronics and Communication) course. 

Tabling this decision, the Court noted that various regulatory bodies including All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) restrict the grant of maternity benefits to post-graduate fellowship students while overlooking undergraduate students. Court said, "such discriminatory treatment is violative of Articles 14 and 15(3) of the Constitution of India".

However, court also pointed out that AICTE has submitted before it that the University is not constrained by any regulatory standards in creating provisions for grant of maternity benefits for undergraduate students. 

Noting thus, the court held that by failing to frame Regulations or appropriate legal instruments in this regard and declining to grant such benefits to the petitioner, the University had violated the fundamental rights of the petitioner as guaranteed under Articles 14, 15(3) and 21 of the Constitution of India.

Accordingly, the court issued aforesaid directions to the University.  

The present petitioner was admitted to the B.Tech. (Electronics and Communication) course in the academic year 2013-14, in Krishna Institute of Technology, Kanpur, which is affiliated to Dr. AKTU (UP), Lucknow. She had cleared all the semester examinations successfully but could not qualify the one subject in the 3rd semester and one in the 2nd Semester examination in the regular academic calendar.

Consequently, she could not complete her B.Tech course by the academic session 2019-2020. 

However, the University gave her two opportunities for appearing in the said papers in September 2020 and July 2021, but she couldn't appear in those back paper exams as she was an expectant mother then. She gave birth on 22nd December 2020.

Thereafter, she requested the University to grant her an additional chance to clear the exam which she was denied on the basis that there are no provisions for grant of maternity leave or any relaxation for expectant and new mothers in the Uttar Pradesh Technical Universities Act, 2000, Ordinances, Regulations or Statutes which govern and regulate the functioning of the University.

Cause Title: Saumya Tiwari vs State Of U.P. And 3 Other