Surrogacy Maternity & Paternity Leave: 2024 Amendment Explained for Employees

The 2024 amendment to the CCS (Leave) Rules 1972, notified through DoPT, extends Maternity Leave and Paternity Leave benefits to surrogacy arrangements. Before the amendment, a commissioning mother (the woman who would raise the child born through surrogacy) had no rule-based entitlement to Maternity Leave under Rule 43; the prevailing position relied on case law (notably the Delhi High Court ruling in Rama Pandey v. Union of India reading “maternity” broadly). The 2024 amendment closes that gap and brings surrogacy explicitly within the rule.

What the amendment provides

• Commissioning mother: 180 days of Maternity Leave on the birth of the child through surrogacy, on production of the surrogacy certificate and the birth certificate of the child.
• Commissioning father: 15 days of Paternity Leave on the same basis.
• The two-child restriction continues to apply.
• The leave can be availed within 6 months of the birth of the child (parallel to the Paternity Leave provision in the original rule).

The application format

Subject: Application for [Maternity / Paternity] Leave under Rule 43 / 43-A read with the surrogacy amendment of 2024, from [date] to [date]

Sir / Madam,

I request grant of [180 days / 15 days] of [Maternity / Paternity] Leave from [date] to [date] (both days inclusive) under Rule [43 / 43-A] of the CCS (Leave) Rules 1972, read with the 2024 surrogacy amendment.

The child has been born through a surrogacy arrangement. The certificate from the surrogacy clinic and the birth certificate of the child are enclosed.

This is the [first / second] occasion of [Maternity / Paternity] Leave during my service.

During the period, I shall be at [address] and on mobile [number].

Yours faithfully,
[Signature, Name, Date]

Enclosures: (1) Surrogacy clinic certificate; (2) Birth certificate of child.

Detailed treatment of the interaction between the surrogacy amendment and the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act 2021, the position for international surrogacy arrangements, and the documentation expected by establishment sections will follow in a forthcoming update.