New Delhi: In a big gain to the teachers in private schools, the Supreme Court has held that they (teachers working in the private schools) are employees and are entitled to gratuity under the Payment of Gratuity Act (PAG Act) if they are in continuous service for five years before leaving the institution for any reason, including resignation and retirement.
The benefit of gratuity to the teachers working in private schools came as a top court bench comprising Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Bela M. Trivedi in a recent judgment found no flaws in the parliament in 2009 amending the PAG Act to bring in its ambit the teacher working in private educational institutions.
Having rejected both the grounds raised by private schools questioning 2009 amendment to PAG Act, the SC dismissing concer-ned appeals, transfer case and the writ petitions, ordered, “The private schools would make payment to the employees/teachers along with the interest in accordance with the provisions of the Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Act within a period of 6 weeks from today …” Pronouncing the judgment, Justice Khanna said, “This power to legislate with retrospective effect, which vests in every sovereign legislature, is not taken away by a court decision.”
However, Justice Khanna said, “a court decision cannot be overruled by the legislature. The legislature can amend the language of the provision that was the subject matter of the court decision, and such an amendment does not overrule the court decision.”
