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Teachers are not employees and cannot claim gratuity

In CIVIL APPEAL No.2530 OF 2012, Birla Institute of Technology vs The State of Jharkhand & Ors., filed before the Supreme Court against the order of the Jharkhand High Court wherein the High Court had allowed plea of a retired Assistant Professor, who worked Birla Institute of Technology, and held that he is entitled to claim gratuity amount from the Employer under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972. The High Court had opined that though, it was settled in Ahmadabad Pvt. Primary Teachers Association vs. Administrative Officer that a "Teacher" could not be regarded as an "employee" under Section 2(e) of the Act, the high court had distinguished it on the ground that it is applicable only to the primary teachers working in primary schools and since the case at hand is not a case of a primary teacher, it has no application to this case.

On appeal, the Supreme Court allowing the appeal held that observed that the high court made a incorrect reading of the said judgment. The Court took note of the following observations made by the Apex court in Ahmadabad Pvt. Primary Teachers Association case wherein it was held that even if all the words are read disjunctively or in any other manner, trained or untrained teachers do not plainly answer any of the descriptions of the nature of various employments given in the definition clause. Trained or untrained teachers are not "skilled", "semi-skilled", "unskilled", "manual", "supervisory", "technical" or "clerical" employees. They are also not employed 9 in "managerial" or "administrative" capacity. Occasionally, even if they do some administrative work as part of their duty with teaching, since their main job is imparting education, they cannot be held employed in "managerial" or "administrative" capacity. The teachers are clearly not intended to be covered by the definition of "employee. The High Court was, therefore, not justified in making a distinction between the "teachers working in the primary schools" and the "teachers working in other educational institutions". While laying down the law, this Court did not make any distinction between the teachers inter se and nor made any distinction as to in which type of educational institute the teacher is working for determining his entitlement to claim the gratuity under the Act.

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