Can’t give teachers extra work, says Bombay HC

In a relief to three lakh primary school teachers across the state, the Bombay high court held on Wednesday that they are not required to perform any other duty apart from what is mentioned in Right to Education (RTE) rules.

The division bench of Justice A.S. Oka and A.A. Sayed was hearing petitions filed by the Maharashtra State Primary Teachers’ Association challenging the Central Election Commission asking teachers for assistance to upgrade voter lists under the National Electoral Role Purification and Authentication Programme.

The petition also challenged the central government and election commission’s directions asking teachers to help in the census being conducted for Aadhaar cards under the National Democracy Registrar programme.

The petitioners had contended before the court that due to these extra responsibilities, they are unable to complete portions of the school syllabus within the stipulated time period, which burdens them as well as the students.

The Union government, however, had told the court that roping in teachers for the 2011 census yielded good results as people show them respect whenever they visit homes.

Often people know teachers because of their profession. Indian Citizenship Act and Registration of Citizen and Issuance of National Identification Rules 2003 permit the government to ask primary school teachers to work for census.

The court, however, refused to accept this argument and said that Section 25 (2) and 27 of RTE rules does not permit the government to give any extra work (apart from what is mentioned in RTE rules) to teachers.

The court also asked the government not to take any action against teachers who failed to follow their directions in the past.