No assured career progression for staff in pvt institutions: HC

No assured career progression for staff in pvt institutions: HC

Ajay.Sura@timesgroup.com

Chandigarh:13.01.2021

Punjab and Haryana high court has made it clear that teaching staff and non-teaching employees serving in private government-aided schools and colleges in Haryana would not be entitled to assured career progression (ACP) and other similar benefits provided to regular staff working in state-run institutions.

“It may be noted here that the ACP was introduced to remove stagnation. It is an incentive to employees who work on a post continuously without getting opportunity to progress in the service. With this object in mind, these rules were notified. However, teachers of aided schools and non-teaching staff of aided colleges are not employees of the government and therefore, they cannot, as a matter of right, claim benefits under the ACP,” the HC has ruled.

On the contentions that such benefits of ACP are available to technical colleges, the HC made it clear that those colleges constitute a different category. As regards the plea of non-teaching employees of affiliated colleges for ACP benefits, the HC clarified that statutory provisions do not entitle non-teaching employees parity with the government employee with respect to benefit of ACP Rules, 1998.

Justice Anil Kshetarpal of the HC passed these orders while hearing a bunch of petitions filed by Haryana State Adhyapak Sangh, Haryana Private Colleges Non-Teaching Employees Union and others.

The petitioners, employees of privately managed aided schools/colleges, approached the HC to issue directions to the state of Haryana to pay benefits under the Haryana Civil Services (Assured Career Progression) Rules framed from time to time. In the year 2016, the state notified the Haryana Civil Services (Assured Career Progression) Rules, 2016 substituting the previous one.

The issue before the HC was whether teachers and employees of privately managed aided school/colleges are entitled to benefits at par with government servants, under the Haryana Civil Services (Assured Career Progression) Rules, 1998 or rules framed thereafter, substituting the previous one. The HC observed that it is apparent from the definition of government servants/government employees makes it is explicitly clear that the rules are applicable only to government servants.