The Delhi High Court has remarked that employers has to be “considerate and sympathetic towards” the physical difficulties which a working woman would face while carrying a baby in the womb or while looking after the child after birth.
Justice Suresh Kumar Kait made the observation in a verdict pronounced last month on a plea of a woman who was left out of the list of panel Guest Teacher for schools by the Delhi government as she had recently given birth to a baby.
“Women who constitute almost half of the segment of our society have to be given due weightage and honoured and treated with dignity at places where they work to earn their livelihood,” the High Court remarked.
“Whatever is needed to facilitate the birth of child to a woman who is in service, the employer has to be considerate and sympathetic towards her and must realise the physical difficulties which a working woman would face in performing her duties at the workplace while carrying a baby in the womb or while looking after the child after birth,” the judge said.
The High Court also directed the government to place the woman in the panel maintained by it so that her services can be utilised as and when required by any school, subject to her medical fitness.
In May 2017, the city government posted a public advertisement for drawing a panel for Guest Teachers for empanelment in Delhi government schools. The woman applied and got selected.
In the meantime, she delivered a child through caesarean on January 28, 2018. The government, then, called all selected applicants to submit their documents for verification.
Despite a caesarean delivery, she appeared before the office for verification of document on the February 3, 2018.
In her plea, she said that the directorate of education did not entertain her case, thinking that she recently delivered a child through caesarean process, therefore would not be able to work if any requirement comes from the school. It even harassed her by not marking her attendance. She then moved the High Court. The High Court ruled in favour of her.