The Centre recently announced changes to a 50-year-old rule that would allow female government employees to take 180 days of maternity leave in the event that they become surrogate parents.
With the amendments made to the Central Civil Services (Leave) Rules, 1972, it has also permitted the “commissioning mother” (the intended mother of the child born through surrogacy) to have child care leave in addition to paternity leave of 15 days to the “commissioning father”.
The revised regulations announced by the Personnel Ministry stated that “in case of surrogacy, the surrogate, as well as the commissioning mother with less than two surviving children, may be granted maternity leave of 180 days, in case either or both of them are government servants.”
Up until now, there had been no laws requiring government employees who are women to take maternity leave in the event that a child is born via surrogacy.
“In case of a child begotten through surrogacy, the commissioning father who is a male government servant with less than two surviving children may be granted paternity leave of 15 days within the period of 6 months from the date of delivery of the child,” the updated regulations stated.
The Central Civil Services (Leave) (Amendment) Rules, 2024, notified on June 18, state that in the event of surrogacy, the commissioning mother who has fewer than two surviving children may be eligible for child care leave.
Current regulations permit up to 730 days of paid leave for “a female government servant and a single male government servant” to be used “for taking care of two eldest surviving children, whether for rearing or for looking after any of their needs, such as education, sickness and the like” during the course of their entire employment.
The Personnel Ministry explained in the revised regulations that the term “surrogate mother” refers to the woman who bears the child on behalf of the commissioning mother, and the term “commissioning father” refers to the intended father of the child born through surrogacy.
