HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court has ruled that the birth of twins in a single pregnancy should be treated as one delivery while deciding eligibility for maternity leave under the State’s two-child norm.
Justice K Sharath passed the order while allowing a writ petition filed by Jadi Swarupa Rani, a junior English lecturer at TSWRS Junior College (Girls), Bellampalli, in Mancherial district. The court directed the authorities to grant her 180 days of maternity leave from April 14, 2026, to October 11, 2026, with full pay, allowances and all consequential service benefits.
Swarupa Rani had approached the high court after her maternity leave application for her second pregnancy was rejected. The authorities held that because she had delivered twins during her first pregnancy, she already had two surviving children and was therefore ineligible for maternity leave under GO Ms. No. 152 of 2010 and GO Ms. No. 50 of 2014.
Appearing for the petitioner, advocate Gattu Vinay Kumar argued that twins are born from a single pregnancy and that a twin birth cannot be treated as two separate deliveries. He submitted that denying maternity leave on that basis was arbitrary and infringed her constitutional rights.
While examining the issue, Justice Sharath considered Rule 101(a) of the Telangana Fundamental Rules, Rule 43 of the Central Civil Services (Leave) Rules, 1972, and the Supreme Court’s rulings in Deepika Singh vs Central Administrative Tribunal and Commissioner of Police v. Ravina Yadav.
The judge observed that maternity leave was part of a woman’s reproductive rights and was protected under Article 21 of the Constitution, which guarantees dignity, privacy and bodily integrity.
The court also referred to a Madras High Court judgment holding that maternity leave should depend on the number of deliveries rather than the number of children born in a delivery.
The order noted that Tamil Nadu later amended its rules to allow maternity leave where twins are born in the first pregnancy, while Andhra Pradesh has removed the two-child restriction.
Holding that the birth of twins was a biological event beyond a woman’s control, the court said the petitioner’s first pregnancy amounted to a single delivery and that she was entitled to maternity leave for her second pregnancy.