MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Thursday held that salaries of teachers cannot be withheld for refusing to register or open an account in the National Pension Scheme (NPS), observing that Article 21 of the Constitution of India, which guarantees the right to livelihood as an integral part of right to life, cannot be subjected to individual fancies of the persons in authority

Published on: Aug 24, 2026, 08:18:10 IST

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MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Thursday held that salaries of teachers cannot be withheld for refusing to register or open an account in the National Pension Scheme (NPS), observing that Article 21 of the Constitution of India, which guarantees the right to livelihood as an integral part of right to life, cannot be subjected to individual fancies of the persons in authority.

“The management having availed the petitioners’ services cannot be permitted to decline salaries to them. This is nothing but exploitation amounting to depriving a person of his/her right to livelihood,” a division bench of Justices GS Kulkarni and Dr Neela Gokhale said.

The court was hearing a petition filed by three primary school teachers of a school run by the Dahanu Panchayat Samiti at Palghar, whose salaries were withheld from July 2022 after they refused to apply for NPS.

During the hearing, advocate Vinod Sangvikar, appearing for the teachers, informed the court that after receiving the notice of the petition, the authorities disbursed the petitioners’ salaries. However, 10% of the salaries was deducted and credited in their NPS accounts, which the petitioners were coerced into opening.

The court noted that the government resolution (GR) dated September 19, 2019 on NPS nowhere provides for compulsory application. In another letter dated December 22, 2021, the government stated that no teacher should be forced to open an NPS account. Despite this, the court pointed out, the teachers’ salaries were withheld.

“This is nothing but an arbitrary exercise of power by the authorities,” the bench remarked, and directed the authorities to disburse the outstanding salaries to the petitioners within 10 days with an interest of 12% on the amounts withheld from July 2022 till the date on which the payments were made.

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