* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

Reserved on:10.11.2025

Pronounced on:12.12.2025

+ W.P.(C) 15818/2025 & CM APPL. 64770/2025

MONIKA AND ORS .....Petitioners

Through: Mr. Ranjit Sharma, Adv.

versus

MUNICIPAL CORPORATION OF DELHI AND ORS

.....Respondents

Through: Dr. Divya Swamy, SC for MCD

with Mr. Yagyawalkya Singh, Ms. Akriti Singh and Mr. Rishav

Ranjan, Advs. for R1 & R2.

Mrs. Avnish Ahlawat, SC with Mr. Nitesh Kumar Singh, Ms.Aliza Alam and Mr. Mohnish

Sehrawat, Advs.

CORAM:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE NAVIN CHAWLA

HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE MADHU JAIN

J U D G M E N T

MADHU JAIN, J.

1. This petition has been filed, challenging the Order dated 29.07.2025 passed by the learned Central Administrative Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delhi (hereinafter referred to as, ‘Tribunal’) in O.A. No.32/2024, titled Monika & Ors. v. Municipal Corporation of

Delhi & Ors., dismissing the O.A. filed by the petitioners herein.

FACTS OF THE CASE

2. The petitioners were engaged as Contract Teachers (Primary)

with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD)/respondent no.1 and had served for five or more years. Their contractual engagement came to an end in the year 2016, consequent upon the recruitment and appointment of regular teachers through the Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board (DSSSB).

3. The MCD administers approximately 1,534 schools across Delhi, catering to nearly 8.34 lakh students. Under the Right to Education Act, 2009, the MCD is obligated to maintain a prescribed pupil–teacher ratio (PTR). Due to the shortage of regular teachers, the prescribed PTR could not be sustained at the requisite level. Therefore, the MCD, by its communication dated 05.06.2023, addressed to the State Project Director, Samagra Shiksha, Government of NCT of Delhi (GNCTD), sought the deployment of 717 teachers under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) scheme to meet the shortfall.

4. Samagra Shiksha is an integrated programme of the Government of India for the school education sector from pre-school to senior secondary level, aiming to enhance the quality and equity of learning outcomes. It subsumes Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE). The said programme, in Delhi, operates under the Department of Education (DoE), GNCTD, through Samagra Shiksha, Delhi (SSD), a society functioning under the DoE.

5. In response to the aforesaid request of the MCD, SSD issued an Order dated 13.07.2023, allocating 150 Primary Teachers and 201 Upper Primary Teachers to the MCD. The annexed list reveals that the said teachers were Guest Teachers (TGTs) holding B.Ed. qualifications, relieved from the DoE, GNCTD. Subsequently, vide Order dated 03.10.2023, a further 30 TGT Guest Teachers were placed at the disposal of MCD for teaching at the primary level.

6. Against the said arrangement, the petitioners preferred a representation dated 03.08.2023, seeking preference in appointment and for their contracts to be renewed.

7. As their representation was not acceded to, the petitioners approached the learned Tribunal by filing the above O.A., seeking directions to the respondents to consider them for engagement as contractual teachers in preference to the Guest Teachers deputed under SSD, and challenging the Orders dated 13.07.2023 and 03.10.2023.

8. The learned Tribunal, vide the Impugned Order, dismissed the abovementioned O.A., holding as under: “6. We have given our thoughtful consideration to the arguments advanced by the counsel of the applicants; perused the counter affidavits filed by the respondents and examined the relevant documents on record. We have observed that this OA is barred by limitation as the applicants' teaching contract was terminated in 2016 and they have knocked the doors of the Tribunal only in 2024 - after delay of 8 years. Also we have observed that the employment of contractual teachers is governed by the covenants of the contract and they were discharged by the respondents after the expiry of the period of the contract. We do