The Supreme Court has directed the State of Uttar Pradesh to pay an honorarium of Rs. 17,000 per month to part-time contractual instructors appointed in Upper Primary Schools under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (now Samagra Shiksha Scheme) and held that paying a stagnant and reduced honorarium of ₹7,000 amounts to economic coercion and “begar” (forced labour), prohibited under Article 23 of the Constitution.

The bench of  Justice Pankaj Mithal observed that instructors could not be treated as part-time employees since their contracts explicitly barred them from taking up any other job. In effect, they were functioning as full-time teachers.

The case arose from the appointment of part-time instructors in Uttar Pradesh’s Upper Primary Schools (Classes VI–VIII) under a 2013 government scheme aimed at strengthening primary education. These instructors, appointed on contractual terms for 11 months, were paid a fixed honorarium of ₹7,000 per month and barred from taking up any other employment.

Although their contracts were renewed year after year and they continued teaching continuously for over a decade, their remuneration remained largely stagnant. Even when proposals to enhance the honorarium were approved by the Project Approval Board (PAB), the enhanced amounts were either partially implemented or rolled back, prompting instructors to approach the Allahabad High Court and eventually the Supreme Court.

The central question before the Court was whether instructors appointed on a contractual and so-called “part-time” basis could be paid a fixed honorarium indefinitely without revision, despite performing full-time duties and meeting prescribed teaching qualifications.

The Supreme Court held that continuous engagement for more than ten years in roles essential to the education system created a deemed permanency, even if formal posts were not sanctioned. Paying wages lower than minimum standards, coupled with a prohibition on alternative employment, amounted to forced labour through economic compulsion, which is unconstitutional. Once revised upward, honorarium cannot be arbitrarily reduced without justification or due process.

The Supreme Court issued the directions that Rs. 17,000 per month honorarium must be paid to all such instructors from 2017–18 onwards, until revised by the competent authority. The Project Approval Board (PAB) is the only authority empowered to revise honorarium and must do so periodically, preferably every three years. The State Government bears primary responsibility for paying instructors, even if central funds are delayed, with liberty to recover the Centre’s share later.

Case Details

Case Title: Instructor Welfare Association Versus State Of Uttar Pradesh & Ors. 

Case No.: S.L.P. (C) No.9459 of 2023

Date: 04/02/2026

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