Delhi women’s panel slams Indian Bank policy on not hiring pregnant women
India Today
The DCW has issued a notice to Indian Bank to withdraw its new recruitment policy to not immediately hire women who are more than three months pregnant, despite being selected. The DCW chairperson has also requested the RBI Governor’s intervention in this matter.
The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Chairperson, Swati Maliwal, has issued a notice to Indian Bank seeking the withdrawal of its new recruitment, which prevents women who are three or more months pregnant from immediately joining.
The DCW took suo moto cognizance of reports of the framing of new guidelines by the Indian Bank for the recruitment of staff.
As per the reports, a recent circular issued by the bank prevents women who are more than three months pregnant from joining the service, despite having been selected through due process.
The Bank has framed rules which state that if a woman candidate is three months pregnant, then she would be considered ‘temporarily unfit', and would not be given immediate joining upon her selection.
This will lead to a delay in their joining and subsequently, they will lose their seniority, says DCW in its statement.
In its notice, the Commission has stated that the alleged action of the bank is discriminatory and illegal, as it’s contrary to the Maternity Benefits provided under ‘The Code of Social Security, 2020’. Further, it discriminates on the basis of sex which is against the fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution of India.
The Commission has issued a notice to Indian Bank and has asked them to withdraw the newly issued anti-women guidelines and to provide complete details as to how the policy was framed along with its approving authority. The Bank has been asked by the Commission to provide a detailed action-taken report in the matter by Wednesday, June 23.
