Recruitment of contractual teachers not at par with regular teachers: Centre tells SC

The Centre told the Supreme Court today that the procedure followed for the recruitment of contractual teachers in Bihar was not at par with the mode followed to recruit the regular teachers.

The Ministry of Human Resources Development submitted an additional affidavit before a bench of Justices A M Sapre and U U Lalit and said that no competitive examination was conducted for the recruitment for contractual teachers.

"Procedure followed for the recruitment of Niyojit (contractual) teachers is not at par with the mode followed to recruit the regular teachers. There was no competitive examination conducted for the recruitment of Niyojit teachers. Niyojit teachers have not undergone any examination or selection process evaluating their respective merits," the Centre said.

The affidavit also pointed out that the contractual teachers were appointed by civic bodies but the regular teachers were appointed by the state Education Department.

"The Niyojit teachers are the employees of local body institutions i.e. Panchayati Raj institutions/Urban local bodies zila parishad whereas the employer of the regular teachers is the state Education Department," the affidavit said.

The Centre also opposed the argument that some of the Niyojit teachers have minimum qualifications as prescribed by NCTE including Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) and said that the same cannot be treated at par with any recruitment exam being conducted for appointment of teachers.

"Passing TET and having minimum academic qualification as prescribed by NCTE makes a candidate eligible for appointment as a teacher, however, it cannot be taken as a right to be appointed as a teacher," the Centre said.

The Centre had on July 21 supported the 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 had said that 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 had also 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."