Division bench to hear plea on panchayat teachers

PATNA: A single bench of Patna High Court presided over by Justice Jaya Nandan Singh on Monday referred to a division bench the hearing of a writ petition challenging an amendment made in 2009 in the Bihar State Primary Teachers Service Rules, 2006, requiring the panchayat teachers to achieve a minimum of 45 per cent marks in a competency test to secure their job.
The petitioners -- Kamlesh Kumar and another -- challenged the amendment on the ground that in the initial service condition rules for panchayat teachers, there was no mention of holding a test on the basis of which they might lose their job if they get less that 45 per cent marks.
Petitioners' counsel Vijay Kumar Singh submitted that as per the rules framed for the primary teachers in 2006 they would retire at the age of 60 years. The rules only provided that there would be evaluation of the panchayat teachers' performance after three years of their service and there was no mention of holding a competency test, he submitted. He added that not a single service condition and rule mention any provision of holding competency test on the basis of which teachers might lose their jobs.
Move on JP movement activists: A division bench, comprising acting chief justice Shiva Kirti Singh and Justice Anjana Prakash, on Monday directed the state government to reply in four weeks to a PIL challenging its move to felicitate and give pension to the activists of Jaya Prakash Narayan movement for total revolution.
Petitioner Ravishankar Kumar submitted that there was no justification for giving pension or doles to the people who had participated in the JP movement.