Supreme Court refuses to regularise 3.5 lakh teachers in Bihar

Concerned over the financial strain that the state will face, the Supreme Court on Friday refused to regularise over 3.5 lakh teachers working on contractual basis in Bihar. The teachers lost out their chance to get salaries on par with permanent teachers in the state since the SC held that such a step would put tremendous financial strain on the state's resources. The Court also felt that it would derail the progress in education achieved by the state so far.

The decision by a bench of Justices AM Sapre and UU Lalit came on an appeal filed by Bihar government against the decision by the Patna High Court on October 31, 2017 which brought the contractual (Niyojit) teachers at par with the Government teachers on the principle of equal pay for equal work. By this scheme, they would earn a minimum of Rs 27000 based on their experience.

Considering the submissions of the states and Niyojit teachers, the Court concluded that "if by process of judicial intervention any directions are issued to make available same salaries and emoluments to Niyojit Teachers, it could create tremendous imbalance and cause great strain on budgetary resources."

The state submitted that at present 3,19,703 teachers are working in Elementary Education and 37,529 teachers in Secondary and Higher Secondary Education under Panchayati Raj institutions and Urban Local Bodies. The State Government provides grants-in-aid to the local bodies for the payment of salary to such teachers and at present the estimated budgetary expenditure is about Rs.8924.48 crores per annum. It argued that if the teachers appointed by the local bodies are allowed salary at par with teachers of State Government cadre, the estimated budget will come to Rs.18853.96 crores.

Also, there exists 1,71,775 vacant posts of teachers in Elementary Education and 38000 vacant posts in Secondary/Higher Secondary Education, for which an additional amount of Rs.6144.02 crores would be required for payment of future recruitments. In all, the state would require an additional budgetary allocation of Rs.16073.50 crores to comply with the HC judgment. This would far exceed the budgetary provision allocated for education under the State's budget.

The Court considered the fundamental right argument of the Niyojit teachers and felt there will be no violation of their rights as it found the State doing good work in establishing schools in each district with emphasis on girl students. "Any directions as have been passed by the High Court, may break even the tempo which the State has consistently been able to achieve (in the field of education)."

Tough Lesson

• 3,19,703 teachers are working in Elementary Education
• 37,529 teachers working in Secondary and Higher Secondary Education
• 1,71,775 vacant posts of teachers exist in Elementary Education