Plea for 7th Pay panel in schools dismissed

Would have to hike fees, say schools

The Delhi High Court has dismissed a petition seeking implementation of the 7th Pay Commission recommendations in private unaided schools in the Capital.

A Bench of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice C. Hari Shankar said if the staff of these institutions are aggrieved, then they can approach the court in their individual capacity.

It said as and when any staff of these schools approaches court, all stakeholders will be heard and an order can then be passed.

The High Court was hearing a plea by NGO Social Jurist, filed through advocate Ashok Agarwal, seeking that the 7th Pay Commission recommendations should be implemented to bring the pay, allowances and other benefits of staff in private unaided schools on par with employees of government and municipal corporation-run schools in the city

Action Committee, which represented a majority of the private unaided schools in the city, had said that implementation of the 7th Pay Commission would result in a 25% salary hike, with effect from 2016, for both teaching and non-teaching staff, which cannot be paid without hiking fees.

It told the court that time and again the schools have requested the Delhi government to allow them to increase their fees, but the same was not permitted.

It said that on one hand the government was not permitting it to increase fees and on the other it was insisting on implementation of the 7th Pay Commission recommendations.

The Delhi government told the HC that it had inspected around 1,145 private unaided schools out of the total 1,766 schools in the national capital and found that 80% were not complying with the 7th Pay Commission recommendations.

Source: Read Full Article