High Court had struck down service rules

Hyderabad: Since the then N. Chandrababu Naidu government had brought unified service rules, elevating panchayat raj teachers to the level of government school teachers, the rules have been entangled in complex legal tangles as government schools’ teachers approached the court. The High Court had also struck down the rules.

“In Telangana state, 93 per cent teachers are panchayat raj teachers while only seven per cent are government school teachers. In AP, it is even lesser. With this Supreme Court ruling, we can say hurdles for formation of new rules are cleared. Because Telangana state is newly formed, cadres can be redefined. Education department cadres can also be redefined under the proposed state and subordinate cadre rules,” said TS United Teachers’ general secretary Ravi Chava.

Putting an end to the long-running saga, the apex court on Wednesday also held the unified service rules as illegal and ruled that such service rules couldn't be formed unless there was localisation of cadres in the Presidential Order.

The Supreme Court also suggested the Centre to bring in an amendment to the Presidential Order to allow formulation of fresh unified service rules.