Using Teachers for NPR work not violative of RTE Act: Madras HC [Read Judgment]

The Madras High Court’s Division Bench at Madurai comprising Justice S.Manikumar and Justice C.T.Selvam held that engaging school teachers in survey work for updating National Population Register cannot be construed as violative of the provisions of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.The court was considering a Public Interest Litigation filed. The Madras High Court’s Division Bench at Madurai comprising Justice S.Manikumar and Justice C.T.Selvam held that engaging school teachers in survey work for updating National Population Register cannot be construed as violative of the provisions of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009. The court was considering a Public Interest Litigation filed by Tamil Nadu Primary School Teachers Federation praying to issue a Writ of Mandamus, forbidding the governments and various authorities from taking the service of the Elementary Teachers of the Directorate of Elementary Education for the work of updating of National Population Register & Seeding of Aadhaar Number in the NPR database. Governments uniformly submitted that the primary school teachers are being required to carry out the work allotted to them only during holidays and after working hours on other days and that the teachers are paid honorarium for the work done by them.