By IANS
New Delhi : Teachers in private educational institutions will now be entitled to gratuity, the government said Thursday.
The government plans to amend the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, in the coming monsoon session of parliament, Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranajan Dasmunsi told reporters after a cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The proposed amendment seeks to include the definition of "employee" in section 2(e) of the act, he said.
"Employee means any person (other than an apprentice) who is employed for wages, whether the terms of such employment are expressed or implied, in any kind of work, manual or otherwise, in or in connection with the work of a factory, mine, oilfield, plantation, port, railway company, shop or other establishment, to which this Act applies, but does not include any such person who holds a post under the central government or a state government and is governed by any other Act or by any rules providing for payment of gratuity," the minister said, as he read out the definition of an "employee" from the act.
"This will result in coverage of teachers in private educational institutions under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972," Dasmunsi added.
He said that the amendment was necessitated because the Supreme Court ruled Jan 10 that schoolteachers were not employees under the provisions of the gratuity laws and therefore not entitled to gratuity payments.
The apex court had earlier dismissed an appeal filed by the Ahmedabad Private Primary Teachers Association challenging a similar high court order.