The Kerala High Court has directed that the maximum permissible long leave of aided school teachers as five years after it cited the Kerala Education Rules. The Court said that the teacher could be terminated if they do not rejoin their jobs after a long leave of five years. Dismissing a plea filed by Shaji P Joseph, a teacher at the AM LP School at Chengottur in Malappuram, the division bench of Justice Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice CP Muhammad Niyas gave the order.
The plaintiff had accompanied his wife after taking a long leave of 5 years in 2005. Then he extended the leave for five more years. But in 2015, the request for another extension was rejected. Following this, he filed a lawsuit challenging the decision.
According to the Kerala Education Rules, government school teachers can take a long leave up to 20 years but is not applicable to aided school teachers since an amendment in 2020 reduced it to 5 years only. Section 14A of chapter 56(4) in the Kerala Education Rules states that aided school teachers could have their jobs terminated if they do not rejoin the service after a long leave of 5 years. The court passed its verdict based on the same and that there was nothing wrong in rejecting the plaintiff's request for the extension of leave.
