Dismisses appeals challenging State’s decision to count cadre status from April 21, 2022
Morung Express News
Dimapur | June 20
The Gauhati High Court, Kohima Bench, has affirmed that teachers appointed under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) schemes became members of the Nagaland State Education Cadre only from April 21, 2022, dismissing appeals filed by groups of teachers seeking recognition of their cadre status from the dates of their initial appointments.
On June 19, a Division Bench comprising Justices Kalyan Rai Surana and Sanjeev Kumar Sharma upheld a June 10, 2024 judgment of a Single Judge, finding no reason to interfere with the earlier ruling.
The appellants, comprising teachers recruited under SSA and RMSA in 2010 and 2013, had challenged the State Cabinet's decision of April 21, 2022 and subsequent notifications that mainstreamed them into the School Education Department with effect from that date.
While the dispute arose from the Government's mainstreaming exercise, the central issue before the Court was whether the teachers were already members of the State Education Cadre from the time of their appointments or only entered the cadre following the 2022 Cabinet decision.
The teachers argued that they had all the attributes of regular government employees. They pointed out that they were recruited through a formal selection process, posted in government schools, received regular pay scales and grade pay, maintained service books, contributed to the New Pension Scheme (NPS), and in some cases were granted Modified Assured Career Progression (MACP) benefits.
They also relied on government notifications issued in 2009 stating that their posts would continue even if the SSA programme was wound up and that the State Government would thereafter bear their salaries and other benefits.
The State Government, however, maintained that the teachers were appointed against posts created under the centrally sponsored SSA and RMSA schemes and not against regular State cadre posts. It argued that although the teachers received pay scales and other service benefits, these did not alter the nature of their appointments.
Examining the records, the Division Bench noted that the post-creation orders clearly showed that the posts were sanctioned under SSA and RMSA and that the appointment orders specifically referred to those schemes. The Court held that the teachers' appointments remained scheme-based despite the extension of benefits such as pay bands, grade pay, NPS coverage, service books and MACP.
The Bench observed that the State Government was free to offer better pay structures and service benefits than those ordinarily available under centrally sponsored schemes, but such benefits did not automatically make the beneficiaries members of the State Education Cadre.
The Court agreed with the Single Judge's finding that the teachers were brought into the State Education Cadre only after the Cabinet approved their mainstreaming on April 21, 2022 and the School Education Department subsequently issued the notification on September 2, 2022.
“Any omission on the part of the Government in issuing advertisement or the grant of pay-scale with pay-band or granting of MACP or admitting the appellants to NPS, would not have the effect of diluting the nature of the initial appointment, which was the appointment of the appellants as Graduate Teachers in various schools in the State of Nagaland,” it added.
Holding that the appellants failed to establish that they were members of the State cadre prior to that date, the Division Bench found no perversity in the earlier judgment and dismissed both intra-court appeals.
