The Government of Nagaland has provided a detailed update on the status of the regularization process of the All Nagaland Adhoc Teachers Group of 2015 (ANATG-2015), comprising 1,166 teachers appointed on contract or adhoc basis under the School Education Department between the late 1990s and 2012.

According to an official statement, the state Government had initiated steps to regularize the services of the teachers following verification of their documents and conduct of a suitability test in May 2017. The exercise was undertaken in accordance with the then Personnel and Administrative Reforms (P&AR) Office Memorandums dated August 4, 2008 and August 11, 2016, which provided for regularization of adhoc or contract employees upon completion of three years of continuous service against sanctioned posts, subject to clearing suitability tests and Cabinet approval.

Subsequently, all 1,166 Adhoc/Contract candidates/teachers who cleared the suitability test were recommended for regularization, and a Cabinet memorandum was submitted on October 26, 2017. However, the process was stalled following an order of the Gauhati High Court, Kohima Bench, dated July 25, 2017 in W.P.(C) No. 145(K) 2017 (ACAUT vs State of Nagaland), which restrained the government from regularizing contract appointments under the said OMs. The High Court further suspended the operation of the relevant OMs of July 11, 2016 and July 4, 2008 on July 28, 2017 and reiterated its direction on August 3, 2018, directing the State Respondents not to regularize any person in terms of P&AR’s cited OMs.

The statement said that the School Education Department re-submitted a Cabinet Memo seeking direction of the Cabinet on the issue of 1166 Adhoc/Contract teachers.

In view of the court directives, the Cabinet, in its meeting held on August 29, 2018, decided that regularization could not be undertaken until final resolution of the case. However, as an interim relief, the Cabinet approved doubling of fixed salaries of adhoc teachers and subsequently granted scale pay based on the 6th Revision of Pay (ROP) 2010, as decided in its October 3, 2018 meeting.

The issue resurfaced in September 2021 when ANATG submitted a fresh representation. The matter was then referred to P&AR, which cited provisions of the Supreme Court judgment dated April 10, 2006 in the State of Karnataka vs Uma Devi case. The judgment allowed one-time regularization of irregularly appointed employees who had completed ten years of continuous service as on April 10, 2006. The department was advised to identify eligible employees accordingly.

On non-fulfillment of their demand, the ANATG launched an agitation from September 26 to October 7, 2022, demanding regularization of services. In response, the state Government constituted a High Powered Committee (HPC) headed by the Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister to resolve the issue.

The agitation was subsequently called off on October 7, 2022 after assurances were given that the committee would submit its report by June 2023 and complete the regularization process by December 2023.

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The HPC submitted its report to the Government  in June 2023. Thereafter, the Cabinet, on February 9, 2024, decided to adopt a policy for regularization of contract/adhoc employees. Following the Cabinet decision and a resolution passed by the 14th Nagaland Legislative Assembly on March 1, 2024, the P&AR Department introduced a one-time policy for regularization through Office Memorandum dated March 16, 2024. The policy applies to employees appointed against sanctioned posts prior to June 6, 2016.

Subsequently, a Screening Committee for regularization was constituted on June 6, 2024. As per P&AR stipulations, the School Education Department submitted details and documents of 2,487 adhoc / contract employees to the committee. Discussions were also held regarding missing documents and other possible solutions.

Meanwhile, ANATG issued an ultimatum in December 2025 threatening agitation if regularization was not completed by January 30, 2026. The ultimatum was shared with the Screening Committee, and meetings were held with the Chairman, Screening Committee for regularization of Group A and B, C and D contract and adhoc employees on the need to expeditiously complete the exercise.

On February 3, 2026, the School Education Department held discussions with ANATG core members, during which the Commissioner and Secretary for School Education and SCERT apprised them of the steps taken by the government and requested them to withdraw the proposed agitation.

The following day, ANATG submitted a seven-point charter of demands, which included immediate regularization of services, separate treatment for ANATG-2015 batch members, reimbursement of arrears from October 3, 2018, counting seniority from the date of appointment, processing regularization collectively for ANATG 2015 batch teachers, posthumous regularization of deceased members, and exemption from further suitability tests.

On February 5, 2026, ANATG core committee members, along with departmental officials, met the Chairman of the Screening Committee, who acknowledged their demands and informed them that document verification of School Education Department employees was in progress, emphasizing the need to fulfill various conditions/procedures.

Subsequently, on February 6, 2026, a meeting was convened by the Chief Secretary (in-charge) involving Core Committee members of ANATG, the Screening Committee Chairman, P&AR, School Education Department and Home Department officials. During the meeting, ANATG members reiterated their grievances, while government officials explained the ongoing regularization exercise. The Chief Secretary assured that the government was examining all aspects of the issue and angles to address their issues and appealed to the teachers to call off/suspend agitation.

However, on February 9, 2026, the Principal Director of School Education received a communication from ANATG informing their decision to launch a hunger strike if no satisfactory response was received by the evening of the same day. In response, the Directorate of School Education requested the group to put on hold any further recourse/hunger strike for better consultation assuring them of taking up their issues at the earliest.

The Government stated that considering the School Education Department has the second largest manpower strength in the state, all concerned stakeholders are working in coordination to resolve the issues considering the matter in its entirety.