Historic Victory for Chandigarh's Contractual Teachers
In a landmark judgment that brings relief to thousands of educators, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ordered the regularisation of all Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) teachers in Chandigarh who have completed more than ten years of service. Justice Jagmohan Bansal delivered this significant verdict on November 14, directing the Chandigarh administration and the Central government to absorb these qualified educators into regular positions within six weeks.
Court Rejects Administration's 'Misuse' of Contractual Labels
The court strongly criticized the administration for using contractual appointments as a tool to deny rightful employment benefits. Justice Bansal observed that the teachers were appointed between 2005 and 2014 through proper recruitment processes including public advertisements, written tests, and qualification verification - the same procedure followed for regular government teachers.
Despite this transparent selection process, the administration had kept approximately 1,300 teachers on annual contracts, citing a lack of sanctioned posts. The judgment noted that even after the Government of India sanctioned more than 1,100 regular posts for Chandigarh in 2014, the administration continued to employ 647 masters and 728 primary teachers on contract basis under SSA.
Uma Devi Ruling Cannot Justify Exploitative Practices
The court specifically addressed the administration's reliance on the Supreme Court's 2006 ruling in Secretary, State of Karnataka vs Uma Devi, which the Centre had invoked in 2021 to reject the proposal for merging SSA teachers into regular cadres. Justice Bansal firmly stated that the Uma Devi judgment cannot be stretched to deny relief where recruitment was lawful.
"The petitioners are not backdoor entrants and they were appointed against posts sanctioned by Project Approval Board," the order emphasized. The court clarified that the purpose of the Uma Devi ruling was to prevent illegal or irregular appointments, not to justify keeping duly recruited employees in temporary status indefinitely.
Citing recent Supreme Court decisions in Jaggo vs Union of India (2024), Vinod Kumar (2024) and K Velajagan (2025), Justice Bansal highlighted that employees recruited through due process cannot be kept in temporary status perpetually. The judgment observed that "The decision in Uma Devi cannot be used as a shield to justify exploitative engagements persisting for years."
Deemed Regularisation and Broader Implications
In a powerful directive, the court ordered that if the administration fails to regularize eligible SSA teachers within six weeks, they shall be deemed to be regularized automatically from the expiry of that period. The bench further directed that this reasoning should apply to all similarly situated teachers to avoid repetitive litigation.
This judgment marks a significant step toward protecting the rights of contractual employees across sectors and sets an important precedent against the exploitation of temporary employment arrangements in government services. The court's strong stance ensures that properly recruited employees cannot be denied permanent status through technical interpretations of legal precedents.
