CUTTACK: The Supreme Court has dismissed the special leave petitions (SLPs) filed by Odisha government against the Orissa High Court’s order with regard to entitlement of employees working in different aided educational institutions to receive grant-in-aid as admissible under GIA Order, 1994.
The SLPs challenged the May 5, 2025 order of the Orissa High Court which had disposed of appeals in the light of the judgment so passed in a batch of cases on March 19, 2025.
In the January 23 order, the two-judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma said, “We are not inclined to interfere with the impugned judgment(s) and order(s) of the High Court; hence, the special leave petitions are dismissed.”
Initially, on March 19, 2025, the Orissa High Court had ruled that unaided schools, girls’ schools or higher secondary schools and colleges cannot be deprived of getting the benefit of grant-in-aid under GIA Order, 1994, if their cases were recommended by the respective directorate prior to repealing of the GIA Order.
The GIA Order, 1994, provided full grants by the state government for eligible teaching and non-teaching employees of private educational institutions towards their salary and other dues. It was repealed and a new order was introduced on February 5, 2004. The GIA Order, 2004, provided partial grants for employees of private educational institutions instead of full grants.
The judgement was delivered by Justice Biraja Prasanna Satapathy while considering a batch of over 100 appeals filed against the orders of State Education Tribunal (SET) with regard to entitlement of the employees working in different aided educational institutions to receive grant-in-aid as admissible under GIA Order, 1994.
Justice Satapathy directed the authorities to pass appropriate order to extend the benefit of grant-in-aid under GIA Order, 1994, in favour of the employees and/or institutions, and directed the state authorities to complete the entire exercise, within a period of six months.