Maternity Benefit Act, 1961
[ (1) It applies, in the first instance.— (a) to every establishment being a factory, mine or plantation including any such establishment belonging to Government and to every establishment wherein persons arc employed for the exhibition of equestrian, acrobatic and other performances; (b) to every shop or establishment within the meaning of any law for the time being in force in relation to shops and establishments in a State, in which ten or more persons are employed, or were employed, on any day of the preceding twelve months:] 1 The words “except the State of Jammu and Kashmir” omitted by Act 51 of 1970. Section 2 and Schedule (w.e.f. I-9-1971). 2 1st November, 1963: vide Notification No.S.O. 2920, dated 5th October. 1963. Gazette of India, Pt. II, Section 3, page 3735 3 Subs. by Act52of l973.Section 2 (w.e.f. 1-3-1975). 4 Subs. by Act 61 of 1988 Section 2 (w.e.f. 10-1-1989). THE MATERNITY BENEFIT ACT, 1961 Provided that the State Government may, with the approval of the Central Government, after giving not less than two month’s notice of its intention of so doing, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare that all or any of the provisions of this Act shall apply also to any other establishment or class of establishments, industrial, commercial, agricultural or otherwise. (2) [Save as otherwise provided in [sections 5A and 5B] nothing contained in this Act] shall apply to any factory or other establishment to which the provisions of the Employees’ State Insurance Act. 1948 (34 of 1948), apply for the time being. CASE LAW (i) The word establishment has a wide meaning and it generally denotes a shop, a commercial organisation or a public institution, provided that they are not specifically exempted by the appropriate government from the applicability of the Act; Thomas Eapen v. Assistant Labour Officer, 1993 LLR 800 (Ker). (ii) Corporation which had employed more than a thousand women employees, it should have been brought within the purview of the Act so that the maternity benefits contemplated by the Act could be extended to the women employees of the Corporation; Municipal Corporation of Delhi v. Female Workers (Muster Roll), AIR 2000 SC 1274.