Delhi HC Tells Govt To Regularize Kashmiri Migrant Teachers & Extend To Them Pensionary And Terminal Benefits [Read Judgment]

Hoping that it would act as a “balm” for all Kashmiri migrants who suffered loss of their homeland due to communal violence and came to Delhi during 1990-93 and were employed as contractual teachers, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the AAP government and the four municipal corporations to regularize within eight weeks all Kashmiri migrant teachers from the first date of their appointment.A bench of Justice S Ravindra Bhat and Justice Deepa Sharma also directed the government to extend all pensionary and terminal benefits to Kashmiri migrant teachers and in case of deceased employees, their legal representatives would be entitled to gratuity and other benefits while noting that these teachers have been sharing the same workload as their regular counterparts on less than half the salaries prescribed for the regular staff, which was a violation of Article 14.The court noted that these migrant teachers functioned against regular vacancies and continue to do so for the past 22 years or more and have shared the burden of instructing pupils in NCT government and MCD schools just in the same manner as all other teachers.It also was of the view that these teachers accepted the offer of employment without any benefits for want of any choice and the only alternative being of starvation and eking out a tenuous existence based on government doles.The court’s verdict comes in two appeals—one moved by a society formed for the welfare of migrant teachers and the other by the Delhi government against a single judge order asking it to extend the benefits to migrant teachers as given to regular teachers.Below are the directions passed by the high court: (a) All the Kashmiri migrant teachers who approached this court, under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, and those whose cause has been espoused by LPA 286/2015 & LPA 620/2015 Page 54 of 55, the first respondent society in LPA No. 620/2015 are held to be entitled to regularization; the Govt of NCT of Delhi and the East Delhi Municipal Corporation, South Delhi Municipal Corporation, North Delhi Municipal Corporation and the New Delhi Municipal Council (the latter four collectively referred to as “the municipal corporations”) shall pass appropriate regularization orders, stating that they are regularly appointed teachers from the date of their first appointment. Such orders shall be issued within eight weeks from today. (b) The said regularized teachers shall be entitled to fitment in the lowest stage of pay prescribed for the post occupied by them with effect from 1 January 2009 and also entitled to annual increments in that grade, for all these intervening years. Consequently, they shall be paid the differential amounts they are entitled to, towards the total emoluments they can draw (including dearness allowance and all other allowances), on the basis of what was actually paid to them and what they are entitled to each year, including the increase in pay scales based on recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission and allowances payable under the amended rules.(c) In the case of all serving teachers, the amounts in terms of the above direction shall be calculated and appropriate fitment and fixation orders shall be issued to each of them within ten weeks from today. While making payments, it is open to the Govt of NCT and the municipal corporations to withhold one-fourth of such total amount as contributions towards provident fund by opening separate PF accounts in respect of each of them.(d) While making payments in accordance with the above directions, the Govt of NCT and the municipal corporations shall ensure that the lumpsum payments shall be appropriately spread out in accordance with provisions of the Income Tax Act, to ensure that deductions are spread out, and minimum tax effect is felt by such teachers. The Govt of NCT of Delhi and the municipal corporation shall render all assistance with the income tax authorities in this regard.(e) The Govt of NCT of Delhi and the municipal corporations are also directed to extend pensionary and other terminal benefits to the said teachers, including leave encashment, gratuity, etc. In the case of retired employees, appropriate pension fixation orders shall be issued again within 10 weeks. In their cases too, regularization shall be made effective from dates of initial appointments. They shall be entitled to gratuity, differential pay amounts and pension arrears all of which shall be paid within 10 weeks. A similar direction is issued in the case of deceased employees; their legal representatives shall be entitled to those amounts within 10 weeks. While granting them the relief, the bench quoted from Siddhartha Gigoo’s Garden of Solitude describing the pain and agony of migrant workers and observed who wait endlessly for dawn of a new day and observed, “The petitioners’ hope of returning to their homes, and for peace in the Valley may not yet be attainable; but the acceptance of their claims, should act as a...

Delhi HC Tells Govt To Regularize Kashmiri Migrant Teachers & Extend To Them Pensionary And Terminal Benefits [Read Judgment]

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