The Delhi High Court has ruled that the Capital’s unaided private schools shall have to implement the pay panel’s recommendations from the same date from which they come into force in government schools.
Justice Kailash Gambhir gave the ruling on a bunch of petitions by four teachers of Rukumani Devi Jaipuria School, whom the school authorities had paid the revised pay and allowances recommended by the Fifth Pay Commission from April 1, 1996, instead of January 1, 1996, when it was implemented by the government schools here.
Counsel for the school argued before the Court that since the High Court had allowed the Capital’s unaided schools to raise tuition fees from April 1, 1996, therefore his client had decided to implement the recommendations from the same date.
The school further argued that it was also short of money to implement the recommendations from the date from which the government school employees were given the revised pay and allowances.
However, Justice Gambhir dismissed these two arguments saying that they had nothing to do with the implementation of the pay panel’s recommendations.
The Court directed the school authorities to revise the pay scales and allowances of the petitioner teachers as per Section 10 of the Delhi Education Act, 1973, and pay them their arrears within three months.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Government informed the Court that it had issued show-cause notices to 11 unaided private schools asking them to explain alleged violations of the Fifth Pay Commission’s recommendations.
The petitioners had moved the Court in 1999.
