More than 52,000 retired teachers got an early Christmas gift after the Supreme Court dismissed an appeal by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) challenging their Sh42 billion pay award.
The Court of Appeal had earlier also upheld the award for the former teachers.
TSC had appealed against the award arguing that the appellate court’s judgement had serious public policy implications as it touched on the application of the Pensions Act.
The retired teachers had also wanted former TSC Secretary Gabriel Lengoiboni committed to civil jail for failing to implement the court award. But, yesterday, the Supreme Court declined this.
“There is no basis for granting a stay order in a matter that is not live before this court. It would be tantamount to usurping the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal,” the court stated.
The former teachers under the Retired Teachers of 1997 group went to court in 2006 seeking unpaid lump sum salary increments and accrued pension from July 1997.
Justice David Maraga, then sitting in Nakuru, concluded that the teachers were covered by the agreement dated October 11, 1997 between TSC and Knut and were entitled to their benefits based on the entire increment contained in that deal.
APPEAL DISMISSED
TSC appealed against the judgement at the Court of Appeal but it was dismissed and the award by Justice Maraga upheld.
At the Supreme Court, TSC claimed the Pensions Act affects thousands of civil servants and wanted the highest court to make a determination on the legality of the Court of Appeal’s interpretation.
Lawyer Dominic Kimatta, for the teachers, said over 800 teachers have died since they filed the case 12 years ago and urged the TSC to move with speed.
“The Supreme Court has now delivered the final judgement and there is no other legal case so we hope the Government will respect the rule of law and ensure the senior citizens who served this nation with dedication are paid,” Mr Kimatta said.
The Court also ordered that TSC bear the cost of the proceedings.
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