The cabinet on Monday cleared the education department's proposal to release the payment of salary of a little over 2.65 lakh schoolteachers appointed on contract.

The teachers had not received their salary for the past five months. The opposition parties, including the BJP, had raised the issue pertaining to non-payment of salary of schoolteachers in the Legislative Council.

The cabinet, at its meeting presided over by chief minister Nitish Kumar, sanctioned Rs 1,135 crore towards the payment of salary of the teachers serving in different primary, middle and Plus Two schools across the state.

The fund was released in anticipation that the Union government would release the grant to the state under Sarva Siksha Abhiyan.

The cabinet also approved the laying of the one-man judicial commission report on the Forbesganj police firing in the Assembly.

The judicial commission, headed by retired Patna High Court judge Justice Madhvendra Sharan, had recently submitted its report to the government.

In all, four persons were killed when the police opened fire to disperse a mob, which insisted upon maintaining a road passage from Forbesganj to Bhajanpur, through the campus of the upcoming factory on the land provided by the Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (Biada) in June 2011.

A senior official said: "With the approval of the cabinet, the government will lay the judicial commission report in the House."

In another decision, the cabinet approved the animal husbandry and fish resource department's proposal for extension of the contract of veterinary doctors for a period of one year.

Similarly, the cabinet gave clearance to the state planning and development department's proposal for extension of service of the assistant engineers appointed on contact for one year.

In all, 20 proposals were passed by the cabinet in its Monday meeting.