Karnataka High Court has put an interim stay on the government order granting period leave to women employees. The decision came on a petition by Bengaluru Hotels Association, which had alleged that the order was issued without consultation.
Bengaluru (09 December): The Karnataka High Court has put an interim stay on the necessary notification issued by the state government to give one day paid leave (leave with salary) to women employees during periods. Hearing the petition of Bengaluru Hotels Association (Reg.) challenging this order of the state government, the bench of Justice Jyoti Mulimani stayed the government notification and postponed it till the next hearing.
The Labor Department of the state government had prepared to implement periods leave by issuing a notification in this regard on November 20, 2025. But, Bengaluru Hotels Association (Regd.) approached the High Court saying that this order will cause a lot of trouble to the hotel industry.
Why did the High Court stay the government order?
During the hearing of the petition, the counsel for the petitioners argued, ‘The state government is trying to impose, through a unilateral order, a rule which is not mentioned in any law. The hotel industry will face serious problems due to this unilateral decision. The government did not take opinion from any union or organization before issuing the order.
After hearing this argument, the Court directly asked, ‘Was the opinion of the concerned organizations taken before the government order?’ To this, the hotel association’s counsel replied ‘no’. On this basis, the High Court raised questions on the notification of the state government and stayed the order till the next hearing.
Notice issued to government; opportunity for change
The court has issued a notice to the state government lawyer to register his objection to the petition. However, the bench has also made it clear that the government can appeal to the court for changes in the order of interim stay. This progressive order of the government for the welfare of the workers is currently stalled from being implemented due to technical and legal hurdles. Now in the next hearing the court will decide whether this step of the government is legally correct or not.