Delhi High Court has ruled that a woman who is in government service and has a child through surrogacy, is also entitled to maternity leave, saying that denial of leave would be detrimental to both mother and child. Justice Rajiv Shakdher said that confining maternity leave to only where a female employee herself carries a child would be turning a blind eye to the advancement that science has made. The court also said that the word maternity would also cover a situation where a female employee engages services of another woman to conceive a child with or without the genetic material being supplied by her and/or her male partner.