The Patna High Court has ruled that all teachers of private degree colleges in Bihar who were appointed before April 19, 2007 are entitled to receive salary grants from the State Government. The Court clarified that this entitlement applies regardless of whether the colleges in question were receiving deficit grants or performance-based grants.
The Court’s ruling arose from two appeals related to writ petitions by private college teachers seeking State funds for salary payments. Though initial orders favored the teachers, they weren’t implemented. During the case, a 2015 amendment to Section 57-A of the Bihar Universities Act was highlighted. It allowed teachers appointed before April 19, 2007 without Bihar College Service Commission approval to be regularized based on qualifications at the time of appointment, if scrutinized by March 31, 2017. Final approval rested with the university, and the college Governing Body would distribute the State’s salary grants.
The Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar and Justice Partha Sarthy observed, “the teachers of all the affiliated degree colleges appointed prior to 19.04.2007 were covered by the Amending Act of 2015 and the distinction which was carved out by the State of limiting this benefit only for teachers of such degree colleges which were getting grant against performance of the students in such colleges, is not only illusory but iniquitous.”
Further the Court noted, “The State, thus, and as held by the learned Single Judge would be under an obligation to release the grant to the concerned Universities for further distribution of salary and other allowances to the writ petitioners. It was also clarified by the impugned judgment that those teachers who had retired shall also be granted their due pensionary benefits in terms of the U.G.C. pay scale. This exercise was to be conducted positively within a period of one month.”
The Patna High Court upheld the Single Judge’s view that distinguishing between deficit and performance-based grant colleges was unjustified. It affirmed that salary grants should be distributed to eligible teachers under the amended Section 57-A(6) of the Bihar Universities Act. Considering the scale of the task, the Court extended the deadline to complete the process from one month to three months and disposed of both appeals with this modification.
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