Overview
- Directing compliance with a 2017-18 PAB fixation, the court ordered Rs 17,000 per month for upper-primary instructors and said arrears must be cleared within six months.
- The judges held that locking pay at Rs 7,000 amounts to forced labour prohibited by Article 23, calling the practice an unfair deprivation of dignified remuneration.
- Instructors who have served continuously for over a decade are deemed permanently employed against substantive posts given the permanent nature of their work.
- The Project Approval Board was affirmed as the sole authority to fix honorarium under the scheme, and the court mandated periodic revision at least once every three years.
- Uttar Pradesh’s appeal was dismissed as the court rejected funding-shortfall arguments, ruling the state must pay first under the RTE framework and may later recover the Union’s share.