HP High Court denies PTA teachers' plea for past service benefits

The Himachal Pradesh High Court dismissed petitions by PTA teachers seeking to count their temporary and contractual service for seniority, increments, and pension benefits, holding that such engagements were stop-gap arrangements outside regular recruitment.

The Himachal Pradesh High Court has dismissed a batch of petitions filed by Parent Teacher Association (PTA) teachers seeking the benefit of counting their initial temporary and contractual service towards seniority, annual increments and pensionary benefits, holding that such engagements were stop-gap arrangements outside the regular recruitment process.

A Division Bench of Justice Vivek Singh Thakur and Justice Ranjan Sharma passed the judgment while disposing of Parveen Kumar and Others versus State of Himachal Pradesh, along with more than 60 connected writ petitions.

The petitioners had sought to declare the Himachal Pradesh Recruitment and Conditions of Service of Government Employees Act, 2024 (Act No. 23 of 2025) as unconstitutional and also prayed for counting their PTA and contractual service for seniority, financial increments and pensionary benefits after regularisation.

On the challenge to the Act, the Bench noted that a coordinate Bench had already declared the legislation unconstitutional in Devinder Kumar versus State of Himachal Pradesh. Accordingly, the court disposed of that prayer in terms of the earlier judgment.

Court Dismisses Claim for Past Service Benefits

Rejecting the teachers' claim for counting their previous PTA and contractual service, the High Court observed that PTA teachers were initially engaged by Parent Teacher Associations at the local school level as a temporary arrangement to meet teaching requirements and were not appointed through the prescribed Recruitment and Promotion (R&P) Rules or any competitive selection process applicable to regular government appointments.

Claims Barred by Previous Litigation

The Bench further held that the claims were barred under Order II Rule 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure (CPC). It observed that the petitioners had earlier approached the High Court in Yashwant Singh versus State of Himachal Pradesh and had secured regularisation with effect from April 1, 2018, but did not seek the relief of counting their earlier PTA service at that stage. Having omitted that claim in the earlier proceedings, they could not pursue it through fresh petitions, the court held.

Clarification on Pension Rules

Addressing the issue of pension, the Division Bench clarified that under the Central Civil Services (CCS) Pension Rules, only substantive or qualifying service rendered in a pensionable establishment can be counted for pension. Casual, contractual or stop-gap service rendered before regular appointment does not qualify for pensionary benefits.

The court also held that the view taken by a single judge in Lalit Sen versus State of Himachal Pradesh, which permitted counting temporary PTA service for pensionary benefits, did not lay down the correct legal position.

With these observations, the High Court dismissed the petitions seeking past service benefits while disposing of all connected matters. (ANI)

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