Chandigarh: HC stays order on regularisation of 700 SSA teachers

The bench, comprising justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and justice Rohit Kapoor passed the order following an appeal by the Chandigarh administration

A division bench of the Punjab and Haryana high court has stayed its single bench order regarding the regularisation of 700 teachers working in Chandigarh schools under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) since 2005.

The Punjab and Haryana high court has further directed that the matter be listed for final hearing on March 25. (Representational Image)

The bench, comprising justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and justice Rohit Kapoor passed the order following an appeal by the Chandigarh administration challenging a November 14 order of a single judge bench, which held that because the teachers were selected against specific posts and had served since 2005, they could not be denied regularisation based on a lack of posts or regularisation policy.

The single judge order had come on a plea from Arvind Rana and others, who challenged a 2021 decision by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) that rejected the UT’s proposal to regularise services of the teachers. In its appeal, the UT had argued that the SSA was a centrally sponsored project and that its posts were never merged with the regular UT teacher cadre. In the absence of any policy decision or sanctioned posts, the petitioners could not claim a legal right to regularisation, UT had argued.

As per counsel Himanshu Malik, the division bench observed that the matter required further consideration and accordingly issued a notice of motion. The court further directed that the matter be listed for final hearing on March 25 and ordered that the effect and operation of the judgment passed by the single judge shall remain stayed till the next date of hearing, thereby keeping the directions relating to regularisation in abeyance, added Malik.