Employees' rights must be subservient to society: SC

New Delhi, Aug 17 (UNI) The Supreme Court today stated that in a welfare state the rights of the employees must be subservient to the rights of the society, particularly in the matter of education.

A Bench comprising Justices P K Balasubramanyan and P P Naolekar, while holding that the State Council of Education Research and Traning (SCERT) is not a state within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution, held that a court cannot issue a direction which would tend to frustrate the very object with which a society like SCERT is created.

The apex court said "a court cannot issue a direction which would tend to frustrate the very object with which a society like SCERT is formed after all there may be a point of time in a welfare state where the right of an employee must be subservient to the right of society in the matter of education surely the interest of the society at large should prevail." Delhi High Court, in its impugned judgement, has directed SCERT under the registration of Societies Act and set up by Delhi Government to extend the benefits of pension gratuity and general provident fund to its employees on their retirement and to also provide other facilities like loan, advances, etc at par with the employees of NCERT.

SCERT, however, opposed the writ petition on the grounds that it was dependent solely on the grants of the state government and cannot spend the major part of its fund on its employees and such direction shall frustrate the very object with which the council has been set up that namely coordination and promotion of education in Delhi.

UNI