Supreme Court rejects Bihar High Court’s order to regularise 3.5 lakh contractual teachers

The Supreme Court today canceled the order of the Patna High Court to pay the contractual teachers equivalent salary to that of the regular employees.

In a major setback for nearly 3.5 lakh Niyojit (contractual) teachers in Bihar, Supreme Court on Friday refused to regularise their jobs. (PTI)

New Delhi: In a major setback for nearly 3.5 lakh Niyojit (contractual) teachers in Bihar, Supreme Court on Friday refused to regularise their jobs. The apex court today canceled the order of the Patna High Court to pay the contractual teachers equivalent salary to that of the regular employees. Setting aside the High Court's order which directed the regularisation of the jobs, the apex court upheld the Nitish Kumar government’s views on the matter. For quite a long time, the teachers employed on contract with the Bihar government had been demanding the right to ‘equal pay for equal work’. However, the Nitish Kumar government had ruled out to considered their demands. The teachers then organised a protest against the state government. Later, the Patna high court had ruled that the teachers, who were hired on consolidated pay, were entitled to salary on a par with the regular permanent teachers working in various government schools in the state. The rule was supposed to come into effect from 2010. However, the Bihar government had filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the High Court's decision quoting that the state government would be liable to pay 50 thousand crores more if this decision comes into effect. Earlier, in the Supreme Court, 11 petitions were heard on this matter.