Case Note & Summary
The petitioner, Ku. Sheetal Shivkant Chavan, filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) before the Bombay High Court, Nagpur Bench, seeking directions to the respondents, including the State of Maharashtra and Zilla Parishad Amravati, to apply the pay scale of untrained teachers along with increments and arrears, based on a communication dated 24/04/2007 and a judgment dated 24/04/2012 in Writ Petition No. 7118/2011. The claim was founded on earlier judgments of various Benches of the Bombay High Court, which had granted similar relief to untrained teachers. However, when the petition came up before a Division Bench on February 6, 2018, the court noted that the petitioner had not pointed out a contrary Division Bench judgment reported in 2016(4) Mh.L.J. 158 (Smita Manohar Ramteke v. State of Maharashtra), which had distinguished the earlier judgments and found them not to be laying down correct law. The Division Bench directed the petition to be registered as a PIL and issued an interim order restraining the respondents from releasing any pay scale to untrained teachers. The present Division Bench, consisting of B. R. Gavai and M. G. Giratkar, JJ., heard the matter. The court examined the earlier judgments and the Smita Manohar Ramteke case. It held that the earlier judgments granting pay scale to untrained teachers were per incuriam as they did not consider the Division Bench judgment in Smita Manohar Ramteke, which had correctly held that untrained teachers are not entitled to the pay scale of trained teachers. The court dismissed the PIL, vacated the interim order, and directed the respondents to recover any amounts paid to untrained teachers in pursuance of the earlier judgments.
Headnote
A) Service Law - Pay Scale - Untrained Teachers - Entitlement to Trained Teacher Pay Scale - The court considered whether untrained teachers are entitled to the pay scale of trained teachers. The court held that untrained teachers are not entitled to the pay scale of trained teachers, and the earlier judgments granting such relief were per incuriam as they did not consider the Division Bench judgment in Smita Manohar Ramteke v. State of Maharashtra. (Paras 1-10) B) Public Interest Litigation - Maintainability - Individual Claim - The court observed that the petition was originally filed as a writ petition for individual relief, but was converted into a PIL by the earlier Division Bench. The court noted that the petitioner had not disclosed the contrary Division Bench judgment, and dismissed the PIL. (Paras 4-10)
Issue of Consideration
Whether untrained teachers are entitled to the pay scale of trained teachers, and whether the earlier judgments of the Bombay High Court granting such relief were correctly decided.
Final Decision
The court dismissed the PIL, vacated the interim order, and directed the respondents to recover any amounts paid to untrained teachers in pursuance of the earlier judgments.
Law Points
- Untrained teachers not entitled to trained teacher pay scale
- earlier judgments per incuriam
- distinction between trained and untrained teachers
- government policy on teacher qualifications
