The Court ruled that the state must bear the initial responsibility of paying the revised honorarium and may later recover the Centre’s share, if necessary, on the principle of “pay and recover.”
Today, Supreme Court criticised the Uttar Pradesh government for paying primary school instructors a fixed honorarium of just ₹7,000 per month for over a decade, calling it an “unfair practice” and likening it to begar (forced labour).
A bench of Justices Pankaj Mithal and Prasanna B. Varale noted that the wages of part-time contractual instructors in upper primary schools had remained stagnant and unreasonably low. The Court directed the state to pay an enhanced honorarium of ₹17,000 per month to all such teachers with effect from the 2017–18 financial year and to clear the arrears within six months.
The issue arose from a 2013 government order under which instructors for physical education, art and work education were appointed on 11-month contracts with a fixed honorarium of ₹7,000 per month under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, later merged into the Samagra Shiksha Scheme. Despite approval by the Project Approval Board to raise the honorarium to ₹17,000 per month in 2017–18, the state continued paying the lower amount and even reverted to ₹7,000 from 2019–20.
The Uttar Pradesh government argued that the hike could not be implemented due to the Centre’s failure to release its share of funds under the 60:40 Centre-State funding pattern of the scheme. Rejecting this defence, the Court held that funding arrangements between governments cannot override statutory obligations under the Right to Education Act, 2009
The Court ruled that the state must bear the initial responsibility of paying the revised honorarium and may later recover the Centre’s share, if necessary, on the principle of “pay and recover.”
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