JAMMU AND KASHMIR BANK LTD TH CHAIRMAN AND OTHERS KARTIKAY SHARMA vs BASU MAGOTRA AND OTHERS — LPA/27/2026

Case Summary: LPA 27/2026 & LPA 34/2026 Court Decision: The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir dismissed both appeals filed by Jammu and Kashmir Bank Ltd., upholding the lower court's order that maternity leave periods must be counted as continuous service for regularization purposes and that respondents are entitled to salary benefits retroactively. Key Reasoning: The court held that excluding maternity leave from service calculations constitutes gender discrimination that violates Articles 14, 15, and 42 of the Constitution. The judges rejected the bank's "acquiescence" argument, noting that employees in unequal bargaining positions cannot meaningfully waive fundamental rights, and emphasized that any ambiguity in maternity benefit rules must be resolved in favor of female employees through purposive interpretation. This case analysis is maintained by casestatus.in based on publicly available court records.