Teachers above 50 years of age exempted from 'excess teacher' transfers: Karnataka HC
The Karnataka High Court has ruled that female teachers aged over 50 and male teachers above 55 are exempted in law from being considered as 'excess teachers' during the process of rationalisation and redeployment in other schools.
This decision enforces Section 10(1)(vi) of the Karnataka State Civil Services (Regulation of Transfer of Teachers) Act, 2020, which mandates that authorities must honour this provision.
The court's decision came while dismissing the appeals filed by the Department of School Education, which had challenged the Karnataka State Administrative Tribunal's orders. These orders had quashed the transfer of two teachers, Umadevi Hundarkar and Prabhavati Ronad, from their high schools in Bagalkot district on the grounds of being 'excess teachers'.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice N V Anjaria and Justice S G Pandit, emphasised that such beneficial provisions must be implemented in favour of eligible teachers, regardless of whether they have specifically requested it. The bench highlighted that this statutory provision grants a right to the teachers to be protected under the Act.
The court also noted that the two teachers should not have been classified as excess and transferred, especially after they highlighted the relevant Act provisions. Upholding the tribunal's decision, the court underscored that age-based exemptions are a long-established practice and that the authorities should have considered the teachers' valid and timely representations.
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US VP JD Vance says Lebanon not part of ceasefire, calls it ‘misunderstanding’
Budapest/Washington: US Vice President J D Vance has said that Lebanon was never included in the ceasefire understanding with Iran, describing the confusion as a “legitimate misunderstanding”.
Speaking to reporters before departing from Hungary, Vance said, “I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn’t. We never made that promise.”
He stressed that the United States had not included Lebanon in the scope of the ceasefire at any stage.
His remarks come amid continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where more than 200 people were reported killed, even as ceasefire talks between Iran and the US move forward.
Vance said Israel had “offered … to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful”.
He warned that if Iran allows the situation in Lebanon to affect the negotiations, it could derail the talks.
“If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,” he said.
