Judgment

R.S. PATHAK,CJI.:- Special leave to appeal is granted in both the special leave petitions.

2. The petitioners are teachers employed in various recognised aided private schools in the State of Haryana. The schools are maintained under private management. They receive financial aid from the State Government. The petitioners have come to court alleging that teachers employed in Government aided private schools are entitled to parity with the teachers employed in Government schools in the matter of pay scales and other emoluments such as Dearness Allowance, House Rent Allowance, City Compensatory Allowance, Medical Reimbursement and Gratuity, etc. It appears that prior to 1967 there was considerable disparity in the emoluments of teachers employed in the same State, and the Government of India appointed the Kothari Commission to examine the conditions of service of teachers with the object of improving the standards of education in the country. Among other things, the Kothari Commission recommended that the scales of pay of school teachers belonging to the same category but working under different managements such as Government, local bodies or private organisations should be the same. Almost all the States, including the State of Haryana, decided to implement the recommendations of the Kothari Commission. The State of Haryana declared in January, 1968 that the revised rates suggested by the Kothari Commission would be made effective from 1 December, 1967, and that the grades of teachers of privately managed schools would be revised on the pattern of the grades of teachers working in Government schools. As the deficit between the original grades and the revised grades was found too burdensome for the managements of the aided schools to bear, the State decided to meet the increased expenditure entirely in regard to pay and Dearness Allowance. The State Government followed the principle of parity between the teachers working in aided schools and Government schools until 1979. In 1979, the pay scale of teachers in Government schools was revised by the State after the report of the Pay Commission, but in the case of the teachers of aided schools the revision was effected two years later. The petitioners allege that the salary and other emoluments paid to the teachers of aided schools have fallen far behind the emoluments paid to the teachers in Government schools and this Court should interfere in order to remove such discrimination. We are told that there are about sixty thousand teachers in Government schools while a mere four thousand teachers are employed in aided schools. According to the petitioners, to provide education in schools is the constitutional responsibility of the Government, and this is reflected in the deep and pervasive control exercised by the Government over the running of aided schools. It is pointed out that the control is exercised over almost all areas of management. The Committee of management has to be approved by the State Government, so have the strength of the teaching and the other staff as well as the qualifications and other conditions of eligibility for appointment to the staff. The mode of selection and the determination of seniority are subject to the directions of the State Government and teachers cannot be dismissed, removed or reduced in rank without the prior approval of the State authorities. The tuition fee, as well as freeships, concessions and scholarships are fixed by the State Government, which is also empowered to give instructions in regard to the time table, working hours, pupil ratio, attendance and workload. The financial resources and the heads of income and expenditure are indicated by the State Government.

3. We have heard learned counsel for the parties at considerable length, and we find general agreement between the parties that there is no reason for discrimination between the teachers employed in aided schools and those employed in Government schools so far as the salar