Delhi High Court pulls up municipal body for non-payment of salaries to teachers

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court Wednesday pulled up the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) for not paying the salaries of teachers in the schools for five months and asked them to make attempts for releasing money to them.

While terming non-payment of salaries to teachers as “strange” and “unfortunate”, the high court warned that it will order stoppage of salaries to senior officers till the time teachers are paid their wages. “Why are you not paying salaries? This is something very strange that you have not paid them salaries for five months. They are teachers,” a bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad said.

The bench further said, “We'll pass an order for stoppage of salaries of all senior officers till salaries of these teachers are paid. This is very unfortunate. You pay their salaries. Salaries of senior officers are paid and not of these poor people.” The counsel for East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) said they were facing crucial fund deficiency and even grade A officers are not being paid since January. As the court asked whether the commissioner was getting salary, the counsel for the corporation said she will inform about this on the next date of the hearing.

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The bench allowed an early hearing application of a petition by a group of teachers, seeking direction to the corporation for payment of salaries, and listed the matter for further proceedings on July 22. “Respondents shall make all possible attempts for release of salaries to these employees and petitioners,” the bench said. Advocate Ashok Agarwal, appearing for the petitioner teachers, submitted that the EDMC has not paid them salaries for five months, and the inaction on the corporation's part is in violation of their fundamental right to livelihood. A batch of pleas relating to the non-payment of salaries to MCD employees is also pending in the high court.