Department of School Education reiterates procedural constraints in addressing All Nagaland Adhoc Teachers Group demands

Department of School Education (DoSE) on Wednesday reiterated that demands raised by ANATG cannot be acceded to at this stage due to mandatory procedural requirements under the State’s one-time regularisation policy.
In a press note, department affirmed its commitment to addressing the concerns of adhoc and contract teachers but emphasised that the regularisation process involves thorough scrutiny and verification of documents, confirmation of eligibility criteria, and strict compliance with uniform government guidelines applicable to all eligible adhoc/contract employees across the state.
In view of those statutory and procedural formalities, the department said it was currently not feasible to issue a specific date for regularisation or accept demands outside the prescribed framework.
All Nagaland Adhoc Teachers Group of 2015 (ANATG-2015) comprises of 1166 teachers appointed on adhoc/contract basis against various categories of posts under the school education department during the late 1990s and 2012.
In pursuance of government orders which were in force then, viz., O.Ms dated August 4, 2008 and August 11, 2016, a suitability test was conducted in May 2017 to regularize the services of 1166 adhoc/contract candidates/teachers and their case was forwarded to Cabinet on October 26, 2017 for approval. However, in view of the Gauhati High Court, Kohima Bench’s order dated July 25, 2017 in W.P. (C) No. 145 (K) 2017 (ACAUT vs. State of Nagaland), which restrained the state government from regularizing any contract appointment, the Cabinet deferred the case. By order dated August 3, 2018, the court quashed the OMs and directed the State respondents not to regularize contract/adhoc appointments in terms of the P&AR’s cited OMs.
The school education department re-submitted a cabinet memo seeking direction of the Cabinet on the issue of 1166 adhoc/contract teachers. The cabinet, in its decision on August 29, 2018, decided that till the court matter is fully resolved, the adhoc teachers’ services cannot be regularized, but the fixed salary of the adhoc teachers be doubled. Subsequently, as decided by the Cabinet in its meeting on October 3, 2018, scale pay on the basis of 6th ROP of 2010 was granted to them.
ANATG submitted a representation for their regularisation in September 2021, which was referred to P&AR department. The P&AR department conveyed that, as a one-time measure, irregularly appointed employees who had completed 10 years of continuous service as on April 10, 2006 can be regularized as per Para 44 of the Supreme Court judgment and order dated April 10, 2006 passed in State of Karnataka vs. Uma Devi.
On non-fulfilment of their demand, ANATG resorted to agitation demanding regularisation of their services from 26.09.2022 till 07.10.2022.
In this backdrop, the government constituted a high powered committee headed by the Principal Secretary to CM to resolve the issue, and the agitation was called off on October 7, 2022.
The terms of reference included submission of a report by June 2023 and resolution of the issue by December 2023.
The HPC submitted its report to the government in June 2023. On February 9, 2024, the Cabinet adopted a policy for regularisation of contract/adhoc employees on the basis of the proposal of P&AR, followed by a resolution in the 14th Nagaland Legislative Assembly on 01.03.2024. Consequently, the P&AR department introduced a one-time policy for regularisation of contract/adhoc employees appointed prior to 06.06.2016 against sanctioned posts vide O.M. No. AR/GEN-6/2/2023(B)/328 dated 16.03.2024, and a screening committee on regularisation was constituted vide Notification No. AR/GEN-6/2/2023 dated 06.06.2024.
In accordance with the stipulations of P&AR, the school education department forwarded the list and details of 2484 adhoc/contract employees along with documents to the screening committee. Discussions were held with the committee regarding missing documents and possible solutions.
Meanwhile, the ANATG-2015 submitted an ultimatum in December 2025 for going on agitation if their services were not regularised by January 30, 2026. ANATG-2015 core members were called for discussion on 03.02.2026 and were apprised of the action taken by the government, with a request to call off the proposed agitation.
On February 4, 2026, after discussion with the general members, ANATG submitted seven points of demand: Immediate regularisation of service; ANATG-2015 batch members should be segregated and treated separately; arrears be reimbursed from the date of grant of scale, i.e., October 3, 2018; seniority should be counted from the date of appointment; regularisation of ANATG-2015 batch teacher members be processed together; posthumous regularisation of deceased members be assured and ANATG-2015 batch teacher members should be exempted from appearing for another suitability test.
On February 5, 2026, departmental officials along with ANATG members met the chairman, screening committee, P&AR, who explained to them the procedures to be observed/followed and that screening of documents of the school education department was in progress.
On February 6, 2026, to discuss the issue, the chief secretary, Nagaland (CS in-charge), invited the core members of ANATG along with the chairman, screening committee, P&AR, school education department and home department. The chief secretary explained the system of working of the government, the procedures to be observed, and that the government is looking at all aspects and angles to address their issues.
On February 9, 2026, on receipt of a letter from ANATG-2015 intimating that they would go on a hunger strike if they did not receive any satisfactory response by the evening of February 9, 2026, the directorate of school education requested them to put on hold any further recourse/hunger strike for better consultation, assuring them that their issues would be taken up at the earliest.
On February 11, 2026, P&AR department communicated the list of 235 adhoc/contract employees (inclusive of 91 adhoc/contract employees from ANATG) whose documents were verified and found to be complete for the first step, seeking additional documents, viz., medical certificate/others, for the next step.
Accordingly, the directorate informed the officers to submit the requisite documents/take necessary steps and simultaneously informed ANATG of the progress, requesting them to withdraw the agitation and resume work since the government had already initiated action for the next stage of regularisation of service.
In response, on February 13, 2026, ANATG communicated their decision: to depute 10 ANATG members to assist and oversee documentation of its members and call off the agitation when the government gives a specific date for regularisation.
On February 13, 2026, the department conveyed that on account of the requirement to observe formalities and verification, it would not be in a position to give any specific date.
On February 16, 2026, the chief minister convened a meeting to discuss the issue. Adviser school education; finance commissioner; home commissioner; chairman, screening committee; and officials of P&AR, justice & law, finance, and school education were present. The CM was apprised of the chronology, steps/actions taken by the departments, and the process being followed—screening of documents/need for confirmation of the nature of the post held by the incumbent to enable regularisation of the adhoc/contract employees.
On February 17, 2026, adviser school education convened a meeting of ANATG members attended by department/Samagra officers, ANSTA and ANATG members.
At the meeting, the demands of ANATG and the necessity to follow procedures for regularisation of contract/adhoc employees formulated in their interest were discussed at length.
Although the meeting was inconclusive, ANATG decided to suspend their agitation and consult its members for the next course of action.
Consequent to the screening of documents, P&AR intimated the list of adhoc/contract employees under school education whose documents have been found to be complete/to be missing/found to be incomplete, which has been/is being communicated to all the concerned contract/adhoc employees.
The one-time regularisation policy of the state government stipulates fulfilment of various requirements, viz., submission of appointment order, post sanction/creation order, fulfilment of educational qualification criteria, suitability test, antecedent verification, medical fitness certificate/others.
These stipulations are applicable to all eligible adhoc/contract employees in the State of Nagaland. Completion of the procedures would be subject to submission of documents complete in all respects by the respective adhoc/contract employees and fulfilment of standing Government policies/guidelines and subsequent approval of the Cabinet.
In view of the formalities/procedures required to be followed, while the government is seized of the issues, a definite timeframe for regularisation of the services of the adhoc/contract employees cannot be issued as demanded by ANATG for calling off the agitation.