The Patna High Court in a historical verdict on Tuesday said the demand of thousands of school teachers on contract in Bihar of equal pay for equal work is right and has to be made applicable.

After hearing the petition of contractual teachers, a division bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice Anil Kumar said it is unconstitutional and violation of constitutional provisions if equal pay for equal work is not being paid.

In their petition, the contractual teachers said that they have been discriminated in connection with equal pay for equal work in the state.

The High Court's order comes as a relief for nearly 3.5 lakh contractual teachers in Bihar.

The contractual teachers had staged protests earlier demanding the right to equal pay for equal work. Their main demand was for parity of salary with the government school teachers.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had earlier expressed his disappointment with the protests and declared that their demands for parity of salary with the government school teachers would not be met.

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