Virtually All Teachers Have Become State Govt Employees: Madhya Pradesh HC Upholds Shikshakarmis’ Entitlement To Pensionary Benefits At Par With Govt Teachers
The Madhya Pradesh High Court has upheld Shikshakarmis’ entitlement to pensionary benefits at par with Government teachers in light of Madhya Pradesh School Education Service (Teaching Cadre) Service Conditions and Recruitment Rules, 2018 (2018 Rules).
The Court dismissed an appeal filed by the Nagar Palika Parishad, Mandsaur (appellant) which challenged an impugned order granting service benefits to Shikshakarmis previously appointed under the provisions of Madhya Pradesh Nagarpalik Shiksha Karmi (Bharti Tatha Seva Sharten) Niyam, 1998 (1998 Rules). The impugned order directed that Shikshakarmis be afforded the same pay scales and benefits as regular Nagarpalika employees.
A Division Bench of Justice Vivek Rusia and Justice Binod Kumar Dwivedi observed, “The State Government has framed these rules relating to service conditions and recruitment of Teaching Cadre in the Madhya Pradesh School Education Service. All the persons appointed by or under the control of local bodies under the Rules of 2008 i.e. Adhyapak Samvarg have been merged into the Teaching Cadre under the rules of 2018. All the rules and service conditions applicable to the Government employee have been made applicable to the persons working in teaching cadre. Now virtually all teachers have become State Government employees and their services are liable to be counted from the date of their initial appointment, hence, they entitled for pensionary benefits also as claimed in the writ petition. Now they are under the absolute control of the School Education Department at par with the Government teacher. Hence, no interference is called for in the impugned order dated 04.12.2023 passed by the Writ Court.”
Advocate Kamlesh Mandloi appeared for the appellant, while Dy. Advocate General Sudeep Bhargava represented the respondents.
The appellant argued against granting Shikshakarmis the benefits of the Madhya Pradesh Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1976, maintaining that such teachers did not fall within the cadre of regular Nagarpalika employees. The appellant stated that these teachers, appointed in the late 1990s under the 1998 Rules were only entitled to the scale specified by those rules.
Although the Shikshakarmis had completed their probation and were given increased pay in 2007, they sought further benefits equivalent to those of regular employees, including pensions and allowances under the Madhya Pradesh Nagar Palika (Pension) Rules, 1980.
The High Court remarked, “Under Section 95 of the Municipalities Act, the State Government is having power to make rules in respect of qualification recruitment, appointment, leave, scale of pay, all allowances by whatever name called, loan, pension, gratuity, compassionate fund, provident fund, annuity, dismissal, removal, conduct and other departmental punishment and appeal and service conditions for Municipal employees other than a member of the Municipal Service.”
Consequently, the Court observed, “As per Rules 8, the person employed under these rules shall discharge the duties under the administrative and disciplinary control of Nagreeya Nikay and as per Note, a person employed or merged under these rules shall be entitled for leave similar to the regular teacher in the School Education Department. A person employee under these rules shall be governed by the Nagreeya Nikay Rules. Their retirement age shall be 62 years. Therefore, in all respect, they are the regular employees of Nagreeya Nikay and entitled for all the benefits which are payable to the regular employees of the Nagariya Nikay.”
Accordingly, the High Court dismissed the appeal.
Cause Title: Nagar Palika Parishad v. Kundan Sankhala & Ors. (Neutral Citation: 2024:MPHC-IND:30394)