Calcutta, Dec. 16: The high court today said a teacher with a Master’s degree should be paid the scale a postgraduate teacher gets even if the school the person was teaching in had posts only for graduates.

The ruling came on a case filed by Ashok Banik, who has an MSc in mathematics but has been getting the salary of a graduate teacher since he joined a Siliguri secondary school through the School Service Commission (SSC).

“The teacher has been deprived due to an error committed by the School Service Commission. So, the commission is directed to give him the first opportunity to get appointment in a higher secondary school,” Justice Debasish Kargupta said.

The judge restrained the SSC (Siliguri region) from appointing math teachers in higher secondary schools until Banik was transferred to a similar institution.

The education department has to give Banik the salary of a postgraduate teacher as long as he remains in the school.

Today’s order will benefit all teachers who have postgraduate degrees but are getting the salary of graduate teachers in high schools (up to Class X) where they are teaching.

“This judgment will act as a precedent in case of other teachers who have postgraduate degrees but are getting the scale of graduates,” said lawyer Ekramul Bari.

The judgment will also benefit postgraduate candidates seeking jobs in higher secondary schools as the SSC is likely to be more careful while assigning institutions to job aspirants. “A postgraduate teachers’ pay scale is much higher than that of a graduate teacher,” said advocate Sailendu Rakshit.

The court said the SSC should not select a teacher for a higher secondary school without finding out whether it had a vacancy or not.

The education department has been told to pay Banik the scale of a postgraduate teacher with arrears from June 2003, when he got the job in the Siliguri school.

Banik, who has first-class marks in MSc and a BEd degree, was selected by the SSC in 2003 for a job in Siliguri Netaji Higher Secondary School. When the school informed the commission that it had no vacancy, the SSC sent Banik to Siliguri Boys’ High School, where only graduate teachers were appointed.

The education department paid Banik the same wages that graduate teachers in the school got, prompting Banik to move court.