Framing the guidelines on menstrual leaves is a policy matter that the Central government should take a call on, the Supreme Court said on Friday, Live Law reported.

A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narsimha and JB Pardiwala was hearing a plea seeking menstrual leaves for students at educational institutes and working women in workplaces.

The court refused to entertain the plea and advised the petitioner to file a representation with the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development Ministry to draft a policy on the matter.

During the hearing, the judges took note of a caveat filed by a law student who argued that making menstrual leaves mandatory might work as a disincentive for employers to hire women, The Hindu reported.

Advocate Vishal Tiwari, appearing for the petitioner, contended that menstruation is a biological process and women should not be discriminated against in educational institutions and workplaces.

To this, Chief Justice Chandrachud said: “We are not denying it… But the student says that is what employers may do in actual practice. There are different dimensions to the issue, we will leave it to the policy makers. Let them first formulate a policy, we will consider it then.”

Petitioner Shailendra Mani Tripathi stated in his plea that Bihar and Kerala are the only states that have provisions for menstrual leaves for women. He sought directions from the court under Section 14 of the Maternity Benefit Act, which says that governments have the power to appoint officers to enforce provisions of the law.

The petitioner also contended that denying menstrual leaves to women was a violation of the Right to Equality guaranteed under Article 14 of the Constitution, Bar and Bench reported.

In July, Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani had told Parliament that the government had no proposal under consideration to grant menstrual leaves to its employees.

She was responding to a question on whether the government would implement the provision under the Menstruation Benefit Bill, 2017. The law states that women employed by both public and private establishments registered with the Central and state governments are entitled to two days of menstrual leave every month, amounting to 24 days of leave annually.