Non-teaching staff of taken-over schools are entitled to the same absorption benefits as teaching staff.

The petitioner invoked Article 226 seeking absorption in the post he held, salary and other benefits from the date the institution was taken over, and consequential relief

He submitted that the issue was governed by the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s decision in Pankaj Tongar v. State of Madhya Pradesh and Others, W.P. No. 20341 of 2021, decided on 16 April 2024.

The State opposed the petition but did not distinguish the present case from Pankaj Tongar.

The Court found the controversy and circumstances sufficiently similar to apply that decision.

Whether the petitioner, as a non-teaching employee of an institution taken over by the State, was entitled to the benefits of absorption and service benefits extended to the teaching staff

Whether the directions in Pankaj Tongar should apply to the petitioner’s case mutatis mutandis

The Court exercised its jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution.

It applied the State School Education Department’s order dated 21 March 2002, as construed in Pankaj Tongar: the order covered the institution’s entire staff, including non-teaching personnel, and did not limit absorption to teaching staff.

The precedent held that denying non-teaching staff the benefits extended to teaching staff would be discriminatory; it directed that the petitioner receive the benefits given to teaching staff, with the exercise to be completed within 90 days of production of a certified copy of the order.

The Court noted that the State could not distinguish the petitioner’s case from Pankaj Tongar.

Finding the controversy and circumstances similar, it adopted the precedent’s interpretation of the 21 March 2002 order and applied its reasoning to the petitioner’s claim for absorption-related benefits.

It did not undertake a separate analysis of the petitioner’s individual service particulars; instead, it directed that the precedent’s order govern this case mutatis mutandis.

Under the adopted directions, the petitioner is to receive the benefits given to teaching staff, and the consequential exercise is to be completed within 90 days from production of a certified copy of the order.