Teachers without pay for six months move Punjab and Haryana HC

Bikramjeet Singh and 11 other teachers employed in government schools under SSA moved HC on Wednesday as they have not been paid salary with effect from September 2016. They said that due to a stalemate between the Punjab government and MHRD, the latter has not released funds to the state under the SSA scheme towards recurring expenditure, which includes expenses for libraries, teachers’ salaries, students’ uniforms, etc. The purported reason for non-release of further instalment of funds by the MHRD is that the Punjab government had failed to submit certificates for utilisation of funds given earlier.

There are around 12,000 tachers, who have not been paid their salary for the past six months and barely surviving on loan from private institutes.

They have also stated that in case of paucity of funds, the state government should have given priority to payment of salaries to the teachers. The petitioners have stated that they were virtually starving under these circumstances.

“After hearing the counsel for petitioners, the HC Bench of Justice Jaishree Thakur issued notices to the state of Punjab, its Director General School Education (DGSE) and the Union Human Resources Development Ministry. The next hearing of the case is March 17,” said HC Arora, counsel for the petitioners.