Expressing dissatisfaction over the delay in granting increased salary to pre-primary teachers and ayahs, the Kerala High Court on Thursday granted time till September 25 to disburse the salary to qualified hands. The court cautioned that if the state failed to comply with the order, it will initiate contempt proceedings under Article 215 of the Constitution against the General Education Secretary.
A Division Bench comprising Justice C N Ramachandran Nair and Justice B P Ray passed the order while considering a petition filed by Kerala Pre-primary Teachers’ Association seeking clarification on the earlier judgment. The court had fixed minimum wages to pre-primary teachers and ayahs attached to government schools, who have been paid an honorarium of `600 and `400 respectively. The Court had directed the state to give `5,000 and `3,500 to them.
The state government submitted that it would take time to identify the qualified hands among employees and therefore the judgment could not be complied with. The court said that it was thoroughly dissatisfied with the stand taken by the state to approve the suggestion to increase the salary.
The court had asked the state to disburse the salary from September onwards. “The government got enough time of one month to implement the judgement. No serious step is taken except filing a statement before the court stating that government needs time. Obviously government had accepted the judgment and that is why time is being sought,” the court said.