Patna, Aug. 10: Patna High Court today stopped the vice-chancellors and registrars of universities across the state, except Patna University, from drawing their salaries until the re-designated laboratory demonstrators are paid theirs.

Justice Navniti Prasad Singh issued the order in response to a contempt petition filed by one Lalitesh Mishra “Lalitesh” and others seeking the court’s direction to the universities to pay the demonstrators in the light of its ruling of September last year.

The order is not applicable to Patna University which is governed by a act separate from the Bihar State Universities Act of 1976.

The ruling has come as a relief for some 350 demonstrators who are supposed to get their salary and other allowances with retrospective effect from June 6, 2006.

The state cabinet had, on June 6, 2006, decided that lab assistants, lab tech- nicians, lab in-charges and lab instructors would be re-designated or promoted as demonstrators after acquiring the required qualifications.

However, the government withdrew its June 2006 decision through a circular on December 18, 2008, saying the officials re-designated as demonstrators were not recognised in their new positions.

Aggrieved at losing their newfound positions, the demonstrators approached the high court for restoration of the cabinet’s June 6, 2006, decision. The court, subsequently, restored the cabinet’s 2006 order and directed the universities to treat the re-designated demonstrators as teaching staff and pay their salary and other allowances accordingly.

The court also held in September last year that the government’s 2008 decision to withdraw the promotions granted to the re-designated demonstrators was neither in consonance with Section 2 (v) of the Bihar State Universities Act, 1976, nor in consistency with the cabinet’s pronouncements.

But the government did not implement the order, prompting the demonstrators to file a contempt petition on which the court passed its order today.

Appearing for the petitioners, advocate Abhinav Srivastava submitted that a demonstrator is a teaching post as defined under Section 2 (v) of the 1976 act and hence they should be treated as teachers and paid accordingly.