TSC, teachers headed for another clash at top court

Teachers have opposed an application by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) asking the Supreme Court to review its recent ruling on their pay rise case.

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) on Tuesday said there was no error in the ruling that required the TSC to pay teachers enhanced pay.

The top court in the land held that the TSC had not filed an appeal to warrant the granting of the orders suspending a Court of Appeal ruling requiring the commission to award teachers a 50-60 per cent pay raise until its appeal is determined.

Senior Counsel Paul Muite, for Knut, said since the Supreme Court judges had already found that they lacked jurisdiction to determine the matter, which is still pending before the Court of Appeal, no competent intended appeal or actual appeal can be said to have been filed by the TSC.

NOTICE OF APPEAL

“Accordingly, there is no error on the face of the record,” Mr Muite said.

In the application, the TSC argues that the judges erred in their ruling when they declined to stop the payment of the enhanced salary on the grounds that there was no appeal filed before them.

Lawyer Stella Rutto, for TSC, stressed that the commission had filed a notice of appeal on July 27, while the petition of appeal was filed on August 12.

She stated that since both the notice of appeal and the petition of appeal had been filed and served on all the parties, it is just that the error be rectified by the court.

“It is, therefore, necessary that interim orders be issued so that no miscarriage of justice arises and to ensure that the constitutional issues raised are not rendered nugatory,” she says.