Dear Anshu, The earlier position was that the leave period had to be adjusted in a manner that six weeks are prior to delivery and six weeks are afterwards. This resulted in a lot of problems in finely balancing the leave between either sides of delivery. After the amendment to the Section 5 (3) w.e.f. 10.01.1989, the position is that not more than six weeks maternity leave shall be allowed prior to the date of expected delivery. Now the resultant position is that many employees are availing almost entire maternity leave after the delivery, since that is the time more suitable from physical, emotional and family point of view. In this case the entire maternity leave could start from the date of delivery and extend to 12 weeks thereafter. KK