The Supreme Court was informed on Wednesday that a woman Additional District Judge (ADJ) from Jharkhand, whose request for child care leave was earlier denied despite being a single parent, has now been granted partial relief by the Jharkhand High Court.
The development came in the case Kashika M Prasad vs State of Jharkhand, where the petitioner had approached the Supreme Court after her initial leave application was rejected. Acting on her plea, the apex court had directed the High Court to reconsider her request.
During the hearing, the counsel for the ADJ told a Bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Manmohan that while the High Court has now allowed child care leave, the duration sanctioned is significantly less than what was sought. “She has been granted leave for 92 days, whereas she had originally applied for 194 days,” the counsel submitted. He added that the leave granted was from June to September, although the initial request covered a period beginning in December.
In a related concern, the petitioner alleged that her Annual Confidential Report (ACR) contained certain adverse entries that appeared shortly after she moved the Supreme Court. She claimed that the timing of these remarks seemed retaliatory, especially given her Scheduled Caste background and her strong record of disposing of cases.
“There are suggestive entries made after the writ was filed. I was informed on May 23. Though termed non-adverse, their timing is troubling,” the counsel noted.
The Court, while acknowledging the concern, clarified that ACR issues were not part of the main petition and advised the petitioner to file a separate application. The Bench said it would seek a response from the other side once such an application is properly submitted.