The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday (April 15, 2026) directed the State Government to ”strictly and faithfully” implement the menstrual leave (ML) policy, which mandates registered establishments to grant one day's leave per month to women employees, aged between 18 and 52 years, during their menstrual cycle till the proposed law on ML is enacted.

In the interregnum, the Court said, it shall be incumbent upon the State to ensure effective operationalisation of the policy through the issuance of suitable guidelines, circulars, and administrative instructions to secure its uniform, consistent and rigorous implementation across all sectors, including the unorganised sectors.

Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the order on a petition filed by 41-year-old Chandravva Hanumant Gokavi, who works in a hotel in Mudalgi of Gokak taluk in Belagavi district before the Dharwad bench of the Court.

No undue delay

Upon enactment of the proposed law — Karnataka Menstrual Leave and Hygiene Bill, 2025, the State shall, without any undue delay frame appropriate rules to give full and meaningful effect of the mandate, the Court said.

“This court would also observe that the State ought not be deterred or constrained by misplaced apprehensions founded upon a superficial invocation of Article 14. Men and women stand equal in the eyes of the law, yet they are biologically distinct. To acknowledge such differences, particularly in matters concerning health, dignity, and bodily autonomy, is not to transgress the guarantee of equality but to give it substantive meaning,” the court observed.

Other petitions pending

Interestingly, the petitions - filed by the Bangalore Hotels’ Association, the Karnataka Employers’ Association, the Bangalore Employers’ Association and 15 women working professionals -- challenging the legality of the ML policy notification issued on November 20, 2025, are pending adjudication before another judge in the Principal bench of the Court in Bengalore along with several intervening applications filed by various trade unions and a group of women advocates supporting the policy and opposing these petitions.

Petitioner’s plea

Ms. Chandravva had sought a direction to the government to effectively implement the policy, including for the unorganised sector while complaining that she has not been given menstrual leave as per the policy.

It was contended in the petition that the policy is not known to the employees in several areas, and therefore, the establishments that employ women should create awareness about the said policy.

For unorganised sector

Citing the apex court’s verdicts recognising the rights of those unorganised sector workers and the importance of social security benefits to female workers, Justice Nagaprasanna said that it is necessary for the State government now to tap the unorganised sectors to take the benefit of the Government order or the proposed Bill when it becomes an Act.

Pointing out various categories, including daily wage labourers, in the unorganised sector and the November 2025 ML policy mainly aimed at the organised sector, the Court said that it becomes incumbent upon the State to undertake comprehensive measures aimed at sensitising all sectors, both organised and unorganised; and the unorganised sector requires a more facilitative mechanism.

The November 2025 notification stated that ML is available for all permanent, contract and outsourced women employees in the establishments registered under the Factories Act, 1948, the Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1961, the Plantation Labour Act, 1951, the Beedi and Cigar Workers (Conditions of Employment) Act, 1966, and the Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961.