Delhi University approves paid maternity leave for ad hoc, contractual staff

NEW DELHI: The Delhi University's executive council on Friday approved paid maternity leave for ad hoc and contractual staff, and constituted a committee to look at concerns related to setting up a nanomedicine institute by the varsity.

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A five-member committee under Prof Dr Kamala Shankaran of Campus Law Centre, Faculty of Law, was constituted in January this year to decide and suggest on the issue of granting maternity leave to ad hoc and contractual women staff. According to the report submitted by the panel, "recognising the fact that availing maternity leave is a basic and vital necessity for the physical and emotional well-being of the mother and the child, the committee recommends that paid maternity leave be granted to ad hoc/contractual women teaching and non-teaching employees working in the university/colleges of the university".

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The committee also noted that ad hoc and contractual staff are hired for a fixed period of time. "... paid maternity leave may be granted to such women employees by the university/colleges for a maximum period of 26 weeks within the specified period of such fixed term engagement," it said. The panel also said that the benefits may be made available to women with less than two surviving children, in accordance with the guidelines. The move was welcomed by the teachers.

DU executive council member Seema Das said, "It has been a long-standing demand of the teachers to grant these benefits to women ad hoc teachers and contractual staff. This should be implemented quickly as it will benefit thousands of women teachers in the university."

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"Paid maternity leave for ad hoc teachers/contractual staff was adopted in the DU EC today. It is a big relief to thousands of women teachers working in the varsity and its colleges and is a result of the continuous work of the teachers' collective and many individuals. "The movement will continue to demand parliament order/UGC regulations for absorption of working teachers to bring the real relief and professional and academic growth these young teachers deserve," Abha Dev Habib, secretary, Democratic Teachers' Front, said.

Meanwhile, the Delhi University's proposal to set up Institute of Nanomedical Sciences (INMS) to facilitate research on diseases like cancer, sickle cell disease and diabetes was deferred in the meeting.