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Radhey Shyam Yadav & Anr. Etc. vs. State of U.P. & Ors.

Not available · 2024 INSC 7Decided 3 Jan 2024
Not available

Background

Three teachers were appointed as Assistant Teachers at a Junior High School in Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh, in June 1999. From October 2005 their salaries were abruptly stopped amid a dispute over whether the government's 1997 sanction order had approved two or three additional teaching posts. Both the High Court's Single Judge and Division Bench declined to grant them relief, and the teachers appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found that the appointment and approval orders remained valid and in force, and that the teachers could not be denied salary over an unresolved internal dispute about the sanction order without due process. It directed the State to pay full back wages from June 1999 to January 2002, and 50% back wages from October 2005 to the date of the judgment, and declared the teachers deemed to have always been in service, entitled to consequential benefits like seniority and promotion. The Court also gave the State liberty to hold a proper inquiry into the School Management, which was accused of altering figures in the sanction order, and to recover a share of the arrears from the Management if wrongdoing is proved.

Lesson Learnt

A school or government authority cannot simply cut off the salary of validly appointed employees because of an unresolved administrative dispute traceable to management-level conduct: due process, including a proper inquiry, must be followed, and employees should not bear the cost of administrative failures not of their own making.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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