Bihar Niyojit teachers not entitled to salary on par with regular teachers, rules Supreme Court

In a massive setback to 3.5 lakh Niyojit (contractual) teachers in Bihar, the Supreme Court on Friday quashed a Patna High Court order that had ruled that they were entitled to a salary on par with the permanent government teachers. The Supreme Court order has come after the Narendra Modi government last year told the top court that the procedure followed to hire them was not at par with that of regular government teachers.

In an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, the Centre had said that the Niyojit teachers had not undergone any examination to evaluate their respective merits, thus, their salary cannot be at par with the regular teachers.

"Procedure followed for the recruitment of Niyojit (contractual) teachers is not at par with the mode followed to recruit the regular teachers. There was no competitive examination conducted for the recruitment of Niyojit teachers. Niyojit teachers have not undergone any examination or selection process evaluating their respective merits," the Centre had said.

The Bihar government had appointed contractual teachers on a fixed salary under the 2006 ‘Niyojit Shikshak Niyukti Niyamawali’ rule. On March 16, the Supreme Court had directed Centre and states to make a joint plan to bear the extra expenses as per the Patna High Court order. However, the Centre petitioend in the court saying that the Niyojit teachers could not be paid as par with the regular teachers as they were not selected after a due process.

In its October 31 order, the Patna high court had slammed the state government saying that if a peon will get more salary than the teachers then it would be better to shut the schools. The high court had also declared unconsituional the state's 2006 rules under which the Niyojit teachers were appointed.