Tripura to comply with SC order on teachers

AGARTALA: A week after the Supreme Court passed a judgment terminating the job of 10,323 government school teachers, Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar on Wednesday said his government will comply with the SC directive.
Addressing the media, Sarkar termed the judgment as 'unexpected' and stated that the state government has discussed all possible steps to protect the interest of the affected teachers who will be jobless after December this year.He said the council of ministers discussed the issue and decided to follow the directives issued by the Supreme Court regarding fresh recruitment of teachers as per the provisions of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education, 2009.
The SC issued five directions to the state after setting aside the special leave petition of the government on the judgment of Tripura high court in May, 2014. As per the directions, said Manik, the state has to frame an employment policy before April 30 next and advertisements on filling up the vacancies have to be published latest by May 31.
On the other hand, the state government has constituted a three-member Pay and Pension Revision Committee for implementing the recommendations on revising the existing pay structure of state government employees and pensioners after implementation of the 7th Central Pay Commission.
Sarkar said the cabinet has approved the panel headed by retired chief secretary of Tripura and incumbent state election commissioner G Kameswar Rao. The committee will submit its report to the state government within 45 days. "The government wants to provide new payscale to government employees and pensioners at the earliest. After getting recommendations of the pay panel, the government will declare the new payscale for employees and pensioners," said Sarkar.
In his budget speech, finance minister Bhanu Lal Saha had declared to provision Rs 600 crore for implementing the new payscales for the year 2017-18, added the chief minister.