Computer teachers under PICTES entitled to Punjab civil service benefits: High Court

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that computer teachers recruited under the Punjab Information and Technology Education Society (PICTES) are required to be governed by the Punjab Civil Service (PCS) Rules.

This effectively confirms the society's status as an extension of the Punjab government. The Bench of Justice Sureshwar Thakur and Justice Vikas Suri ruled that these computer teachers were entitled to benefits under the PCS rules, rejecting the Punjab Finance Department's earlier dissent against extending such benefits.

The Bench partially concurred with a single Bench ruling in a case filed in 2018 by concluding that the service conditions of PICTES employees must align with the provisions explicitly mentioned in their appointment letters.

The court asserted that the appointment letters, issued in the name of the Punjab Governor, categorically stated that the employees would be governed by PCS Rules, rendering the Finance Department's contrary stance untenable.

Rejecting the argument that PICTES, as a registered society, had independent service conditions, the Bench held that the society functioned as an instrumentality of the state under Article 12 of the Constitution.

The court asserted that the conscious decision taken in the Governor's name was to be given precedence over any departmental dissent, when the appointment letters explicitly made PCS rules applicable. The court further emphasized that PICTES was created to carry out functions otherwise performed by the Punjab government.

The society was merely an auxiliary entity and remained an extension of the government, the Bench asserted while affirming the teachers' parity with vocational masters in pay scales and allowances. Acknowledging that PICTES was a distinct legal entity under the Societies Registration Act, the Bench ruled that this did not alter the teachers' employment status, which remained subject to the same service rules as government employees. The ruling clarified that the society could not deny statutory benefits on the premise of its separate identity.

The directions came on 12 petitions filed against the State of Punjab by the employees. The matter was placed before the Division Bench after it was asked to decide on the government employee status of PICTES Staff following differences in opinion by Single Benches of the high court. The issue before the Bench was whether employees of PICTES, a government-owned and financed society, fell under PCS rules; and if they were entitled to benefits on a par with government staff and whether PICTES had independent status.