Terming the situation “painful and shameful”, the Delhi High Court asked the corporation to “think about the hardships being faced by them”.
In the wake of protests by municipal school teachers in north and east Delhi, who have not been paid salaries for three months, the Delhi High Court Thursday issued contempt notices to commissioners of the two civic bodies and the Delhi Chief Secretary.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar was hearing a petition by NGO Social Jurist, represented by advocate Ashok Agarwal. The court directed that a reply to the contempt notice be filed by April 11, the next date of hearing.
On January 5, the court had directed the corporations to pay primary teachers salaries for the last months within a week, and clear all arrears within a month. However, teachers are yet to receive their arrears for the last two years. The corporations had submitted that the salaries were not paid due to lack of funds, as the Delhi government had allegedly not released the money under the Fourth Finance Commission, amounting to Rs 9,082 crore.
To tackle the crisis, the East corporation has sought a loan of Rs 200 crore, while the North body has asked for a loan of Rs 350 crore. While hearing the matter on Thursday, the court directed the Delhi government to grant the loan sought by the corporations, so that teachers could be paid.
Terming the situation “painful and shameful”, the court asked the corporation to “think about the hardships being faced by them”. The counsel for the Delhi government submitted that the government could take over primary health and education, to which the court stated that “as per the Constitution, primary education has to be with the local body, and this could not be done”.
After being issued a contempt notice over the issue, the Centre Wednesday had filed an affidavit on the same petition, stating they have no role to play in the non-payment of salaries. Meanwhile, teachers have planned a protest outside the residence of BJP Delhi state president Manoj Tiwari on Friday.
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