The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed the education and urban development departments of the AAP government to file separate status reports indicating the amounts they have to release to the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NrDMC) in the financial year 2020-21 towards salary of teachers engaged by the civic body.
A bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad also directed the two departments, which provide grant in aid to civic authorities every quarter, to indicate the amounts that have been released between April to June this year towards the teachers' salary as well as the monies due and payable in the next quarters.
The NrDMC was directed to file a tabulated statement of the money it has to disburse in 2021 towards its share of the salaries payable to teachers engaged by it, the amounts that have been released till the quarter ending June 2020 and the extent of the unpaid amounts.
The bench further said that the NrDMC status report shall also indicate the amount that has been released to its teachers in terms of the court's order, the number of teachers and for which period.
The directions were issued by the bench after going through the status reports filed by the Delhi government and the municipal body in the suo motu PIL initiated by the high court with regard to the disbursement of unpaid salaries of teachers employed in schools run by the NrDMC.
The high court initiated the PIL after hearing the petition filed on behalf of North Delhi Municipal Corporation teachers by Akhil Dilli Prathmik Shikshak Sangh, seeking direction to the authorities to pay their salaries which were due since March, when the nationwide lockdown was imposed.
During the hearing on Tuesday, the Education department of Delhi government told the court that by order dated April 27, it had sanctioned Rs.49.17 crores to the NrDMC as grant in aid for disbursing salaries to its teachers for April, 2020, under the Scheme of Primary Education, for the year 2020-21.
As regards the grant in aid for the month of May 2020, the Finance department has sanctioned a sum of Rs.49.17 crores to the NrDMC by order dated May 1, for implementing the Scheme of primary education under the salary component for the year 2020-21, it told the court.
It also claimed that for the month of June 2020, a release order for a sum of Rs.49.16 crores was issued on Monday and in all probability, the said amount would have been remitted into the account of the NrDMC.
The last submission was not accepted by NrDMC which said it will have to ascertain whether the sum of Rs. 49.16 crores has been received by it.
The bench said that if the said amount has been received by the municipal body, the money shall be used to "forthwith" pay the salaries of the teachers for the month of March 2020.
NrDMC, during the hearing, also contended that Delhi government "has not released the amounts due and payable to it for the month of June 2020 towards its share of the grant in aid for implementation of the scheme of primary education under the salary component, for the year 2020-21".
The corporation also said that salaries of all the 9,000 teachers employed by it were paid till February this year.
In March only 5,400 out of the 9,000 were paid salaries, as they were on COVID-19 duties and the remaining 3,600 were not paid anything, it told the bench.
Thereafter, from April onwards, none of the 9,000 were paid their salaries, NrDMC told the court.
While initiating the PIL on June 26, the bench had remarked that teachers deployed on COVID-19 duty can be equated to corona warriors and was displeased that their salaries have not been paid since March.
"This is a very sorry state of affairs," the high court had said.
The bench, on June 18, had directed the NrDMC to pay arrears of salaries within a week, saying the teachers cannot be made to run from pillar to post for their lawful dues.
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