High Court orders regularisation of services of Chandigarh teachers appointed under SSA with over 10 years of service
The court ordered the Union government and other authorities to take the required steps within six weeks. If they fail to do so, the teachers will automatically be treated as “regularised”.
PTC News Desk: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the regularisation of all the teachers appointed under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and completed over 10 years of service as of November 14. The bench observed that teachers cannot be denied regularisation following the absence of posts or regularisation policy.
The court ordered the Union government and other authorities to take the required steps within six weeks. If they fail to do so, the teachers will automatically be treated as “regularised”. The ruling was given in response to seven petitions filed by groups of teachers.
Justice Bansal also said that, to avoid similar cases in the future and to save everyone’s time and effort, the government should apply this judgment to all teachers in the same situation.
This is an important development because the Government of India had earlier, on May 7, 2021, rejected the UT Administration’s request to regularise teachers hired under the SSA scheme. While allowing the petitions, the court noted that these teachers have been working since 2005 — many for over 20 years — and were selected through a fair and transparent process similar to the process used for regular government jobs.
The court pointed out that the teachers were hired after proper procedure, met all qualifications, and were selected for posts approved by the Project Approval Board. Therefore, the government cannot refuse to regularise them by claiming there are no posts or no policy for regularisation.
Justice Bansal emphasised that the SSA Society under the UT Administration had issued a formal advertisement. The selection process included 100 marks for education, written test, experience, and interview. Candidates also had to meet age and qualification requirements and underwent medical and police checks.
The court said the entire process was the same as that used for regular teachers, and clearly stated that “the petitioners are not backdoor entrants”.
Justice Bansal added that the government’s reliance on past judgments about irregular or casual jobs was wrong because those cases involved appointments made without following constitutional requirements of fairness and equality.