TEACHERS ARE ENTITLED TO GRATUITY, SAYS SUPREME COURT

NEWDELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that teachers are entitled to gratuity, in a huge respite for the teaching community across the country.

Recalling its earlier judgement in which it had rejected teachers’ claims to gratuity, the court said, “In the light of the amendment made in the definition of the word ‘employee’ by Parliament with retrospective effect from 03.04.1997, the benefit of the Payment of Gratuity Act was also extended to the teachers from 03.04.1997.”

The judgement will have implications for all teachers who have retired since 1997. The act was amended in 2009 but it was put on effect retrospectively

A bench of justices AM Sapre and Indu Malhotra noted that they had erred in their January 2019 judgment, as it was not brought to their notice that Parliament had by an amendment brought teachers within the definition of “employees” that entitled them to gratuity.

In January, the top court had rejected an assistant professor’s claim to gratuity after the institute in which he taught relied on a 2004 judgment in a case involving Ahmadabad Pvt Primary Teachers Association. It had then held that a teacher is not an employee and, therefore, not entitled to gratuity.

The court has now held that, “The effect of the amendment made in the Payment of Gratuity Act on 31.12.2009 was two-fold. First, the law laid down by this Court in the case of Ahmadabad Pvt. Primary Teachers Association was no longer applicable against the teachers, and second, the teachers were held entitled to claim the amount of gratuity under the Payment of Gratuity Act from their employer with effect from 03.04.1997.”

THE JUDGEMENT WILL HAVE IMPLICATIONS FOR ALL THE TEACHERS WHO HAVE RETIRED SINCE THE YEAR 1997