The Jharkhand High Court Wednesday directed the state government to regularise 226 teaching and non-teaching staff of different project girl schools in the state and reimburse them their back wages with all the allowances. Justice S N Pathak, who had reserved the order after hearing both the sides, pronounced the judgement asking the government to regularise and pay them their dues Wednesday, coincidentally the Teachers Day.

According to a writ filed by the aggrieved teachers, a total of 226 teaching and non-teaching staff of different project girl schools were working without salary since 1985. When the then Bihar government did not listen to their demands, they approached the Patna High Court, pleading regularisation and reimbursement of salary. Jharkhand separated from Bihar and became a separate state in 2000. In a scheme of the then Bihar government, a total of 650 staff had been appointed in four phases between 1981 and 1985. The government regularised the 1981/82 batch while leaving out the rest, the writ said. In 1989, the Patna High Court asked the government to regularise them.