The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the Punjab government to halt the salaries of the heads of its education and finance departments until they provide “service benefits” to a group of teachers who had raised concerns in court over a decade ago.
According to advocate Alka Chatrath, representing the teachers, they had petitioned the court seeking benefits from their previous service in government-aided schools when their salaries were calculated upon joining government schools.
Despite a favourable court ruling in 2018, the petitioners were denied the benefits they sought. Justice Rajbir Sehrawat expressed dissatisfaction with the respondents’ lack of action, stating that such negligence cannot be tolerated, and the court’s time should not be wasted. Consequently, the court ordered that the salaries of the principal secretaries in Punjab’s education and finance departments would be withheld until compliance with the order.
This order came during a contempt of court plea filed by Anil Kumar and others. Previously, in 2018, a single-judge bench had directed the Punjab government and its relevant departments to rectify the teachers’ pay according to prescribed regulations and provide them with the necessary consequential benefits. However, the state authorities failed to adhere to the court’s directives, as noted by Chatrath.
Despite subsequent challenges in higher courts, including a dismissal of their plea in September of the previous year by a division bench of the high court and the rejection of their special leave petition by the Supreme Court in April, the state authorities did not comply with the high court’s order.
Although the state counsel claimed progress in complying with the order in August and again on December 5, no substantial action has been taken yet. The matter is scheduled for the next hearing on February 21.
