Centre supports Bihar govt stand on contractual teachers

The Centre today supported Bihar government's stand in opposing 'equal pay for equal work' for contractual teachers in the state, appointed under a 2006 law, saying they were not equal to those appointed before the law was enacted.

The Centre, in its affidavit filed before a bench of Justices A M Sapre and U U Lalit, said, "the state government has tried to create a balance between the larger public interest and the claim of pay parity between the previous state government teachers and Panchayat teachers".

It contended that "there cannot be a claim of parity between a dying cadre and a permanent alive cadre when the state has taken a conscious decision to adopt new service condition rules for newly-appointed panchayati raj teachers."