The principal director of school education Thavaseelan K said the government is open for dialogue again. However, the agitating teachers will have to take a stand and allow the government to look into their grievances and try to address them within the ambit of the court order and other legal and financial implications, he stressed.

Thavaseelan K said the government is also seeking the advice of the Advocate General to see if there is a solution to this impasse at this point in time, adding: “we are still trying to talk to [the Ad hoc teachers] and make them understand this High Powered Committee (HPC) will look into their demands and see how best they can be addressed.”

He stated the government and the Ad hoc teachers had already had two rounds of comprehensive discussions and the government had reiterated their stand very clearly that a standing high court order passed in July 2017 was preventing the government from taking up the teachers’ case of regularisation. The offer for constituting an HPC, therefore, was made where all their demands could be taken up as terms of reference and a way out of this impasse could be figured out, the principal director said.

“This offer was made twice,” he said, adding that the government will need time to figure out a solution to this impasse since it’s a matter of a standing court order and regularising someone in the phase of a standing court order would tantamount to contempt of court.

That is something the government would consciously not do, Thavaseelan K added.