The Supreme Court judgment dated 13th January, 2G04 in Ahmedabad Pvt. Primary Teachers’ Association v. Administrative Officer and others (2004 AIR SCW 356) (SC) holding that a teacher cannot be classified as ‘employee’ under the Act since a trained teacher is not described in industrial field or service as a skilled employee. This ruling has shocked the teaching community and surprised others. The Court has based its judgment on a reading of the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 as it stands now that such adjectives, generally, is used for an employee doing manual or technical work. Similarly, the words “semi-skilled and unskilled” are not understood in educational establishments as describing the nature of job of untrained teachers. The Bench added that even if teachers do some administrative work occasionally as part of their duty, they don’t carry out the job in managerial or administrative capacity. The Bench, however, observed that there ....