Private schools must implement Pay Commission recommendations on salary: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court recently held that private schools must implement the recommendations of the sixth and seventh Central Pay Commissions (CPC) and pay their teaching and non-teaching employees the mandated salary and other benefits [Anjali Vaid and Ors v Adarsh World School and Ors + Connected matters]..Justice Chandra Dhari Singh observed that employees of the private schools have a vested right to be paid the salaries and emoluments as per the recommendations of the pay commissions, and schools cannot cite lack of funds to deny these benefits to their staff.No school can seek waiver of the recommendations by citing any reason whatsoever, Justice Singh underscored.“Moreover, if the schools are granted waiver from implementation of the recommendations of the pay commission, then the same would result in the schools’ employee salary be given as per the whims and fancies of the school. They may also force the staff to work at lesser pay than the pay as stipulated by Section 10 of DSE [Delhi School Education Act, 1973] which states that the salary as well as the other allowances of the employees of recognized school should not be less than that of the employees of the corresponding status in schools run by the appropriate authority,” the Court observed. .Justice Singh made it clear that even the unaided minority schools must pay the salaries and other benefits to their employees as per the recommendations of the pay commissions.“This Court is of the view that the unaided minority schools are bound by the Section 10 of DSE and hence, the staff of the unaided minority school is entitled to salary and emoluments at par with the salary and emoluments as payable to the employee at the same position of the school owned by the competent authority.”.Therefore, the Court directed the Delhi government to constitute high powered committees (HPC) to supervise the implementation of the recommendations and guidelines prescribed by the sixth and the seventh pay commissions.The HPC will be constituted at the State and the central levels. The central committee will be headed by the Delhi's Education Secretary and will also have one representative of the schools among its members.Zonal committee will be headed by Zonal Education Officer and will deal with the issue of fee hike, salaries, and other benefits. This committee will recommend its findings to the Central committee.“[Central committee] after receiving the recommendations of the Zonal level Committee shall decide the issue recommended to it, expeditiously, preferably within six weeks from the date of receiving the said recommendation,” the Court said.The Delhi government was directed to issue a notification within two weeks for convening zonal committees so that various stakeholders including teaching and non-teaching staff of several schools, who are aggrieved by the non-implementation of the pay commission, shall file their claims..The Court passed the detailed order while dealing with a batch of petitions filed by teaching and non-teaching staff of various private schools in the national capital. They sought benefits of the sixth and seventh pay commissions and payments of their arrears as well as other benefits with interest..While the schools accepted that the petitioners are entitled to the salary and emoluments as per the recommendation of the pay commissions, they said they cannot afford to pay because of the lack of funds.It was argued that the proposal for enhancement of the fees was sent by the schools to the Department of Education (DoE) but the same was rejected. They further argued that until the schools are permitted to hike the fee, the issue of payment of revised salary to the petitioners does not arise..However, the Court rejected the arguments and held that the non-compliance with the notification issued by the DoE for implementation of recommendations of the pay commission violates the petitioners’ rights enshrined under the Constitution of India..[Read Judgement]