Karnataka High Court directs Edu dept to release salaries of four teachers withheld for 19 months

Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has directed the Department of Education to release the salaries of four teachers working at a high school in Belagavi, withheld for 19 months.

Justice M Nagaprasanna said that in the event the salaries are not released on or before December 4, the petitioners become entitled to cost of litigation at Rs 25,000 each.

The petitioners - Anil, Pooja and Rahul were appointed as assistant tachers and Jinendra as Physical Education Teacher at Deshbhushan High School at Chikkodi in Belagavi district on March 24, 2023, with the concurrence of the government. The petitioners claimed that on May 16, 2024, the state government withheld their salaries without any rhyme or reason. When the litigation over withholding of salaries was pending, the Department of Education also issued an order cancelling their appointment.

In the instant petition, the petitioners were before the high court with the fourth writ petition contending that while the litigation over cancellation of appointment is pending, they are not paid salaries from May 2024.

The petitioners contended that they have been working throughout from May 2024 till date and produced the muster roll of marking of their attendance on every day of working from May 2024. The advocate for the petitioners submitted a memo of calculation stating that the salaries of Rs 12,44,386 each is due to be paid from May 2024 till date. On the other hand, the state government defended the action stating that the writ petitions are pending and therefore, the salaries are not paid.

The court noted that the teachers or indeed any employee, to toil without wages strikes at the very heart of human dignity and stands in violation of Article 23 of the Constitution of India, which proscribes begar in all its forms. The court cited the Apex Court judgement which explains the scope of ‘begar’, to include several forms of forced labour and further holds that any form of work that is extracted from any person, without paying remuneration, would amount to begar.

“If the elucidation of the law and Article 23 of the Constitution of India is noticed qua the facts obtaining in the case at hand, what would unmistakably emerge is, that the State has practised begar by non-payment of salary to these petitioners for over 19 months, as the teachers have been made to work without salary. The State’s defence, resting solely on the pendency of the writ proceedings, is wholly untenable and bereft of any legal justification. It is trite that no individual engaged in any form by anyone, much less in public service, can be driven to work, under the yoke of unpaid labour,” Justice Nagaprasanna said, while directing the Department of Education to release the salaries on or before December 4, 2025.