NEW DELHI: The Government School Teachers Association (Migrant) on Monday rejected the claims of the Delhi government for regularising Kashmiri Pandit teachers, saying they were given permanent jobs following the court's intervention.
Speaking in the Delhi Assembly, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said 233 Kashmiri migrant teachers were struggling to get regularised for years in Delhi.
"They were contractually employed. They were forced out overnight, they didn't have time to collect certificates. These Kashmiri teachers were threatened of being fired if they didn't produce certificates. It was CM Arvind Kejriwal who decided to support them and regularise their employment," he said.
He (Kejriwal) understood that it was the responsibility of the whole country to heal their (migrants) wounds, Sisodia said.
However, the Government School Teachers (Migrant) Association rejected the statement.
Talking about events leading to their regularisation, they said it was in 2010 that Kashmiri migrant teachers approached the Delhi Hight Court over the issue.
Five years later, in 2015, a single bench of the high court delivered the verdict in favour of Kashmiri migrant teachers, which was subsequently challenged by the Delhi government in the double bench of the high court, which also directed that they be regularized, the association said.
The government approached the Supreme Court in the matter but the apex court upheld high court's verdict and directed that the teachers be regularised.
It was in January 2019 that they were regularised by the Delhi government, it said.
"These events indicate that the Delhi government was never interested in the services of Kashmiri Migrant teachers. In fact, the Delhi government opposed the regularisation till the very end," the association said in a statement.