02 November,2023 04:01 PM IST | Nagpur | mid-day online correspondent
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The Bombay High Court's Nagpur bench has issued non-bailable warrants against the Secretary and Upper Secretary of the Maharashtra government's education department for failing to comply with the court's orders regarding payment of teachers' salaries and arrears, stated a report in PTI.
The division bench consisting of Justices Prithviraj Chavan and Urmila Joshi-Phalke, according to the report, was hearing a petition filed by Chitra Mehar who sought action for contempt of court against officials for their non-compliance with the court orders.
Counsel representing Mehar, Anand Parchure, said that teachers appointed by the state government to educate differently-abled children were not receiving salaries in line with the pay scale designated for "skilled teachers".
Reportedly, in 2018, several teachers, including Meher, approached the High Court to seek payment of salaries based on the specified pay scale. Subsequently, in 2022, the HC instructed the government to disburse the petitioners' dues amounting to Rs 2.13 crore and other outstanding payments.
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However, advocate Parchure told PTI that no payments were made thus prompting the teachers to file a contempt petition last year.
In September, the court instructed the Secretary of the education department to appear on November 1, but he failed to do so. The court also noted that there was no satisfactory explanation as to why the previous orders were not followed, the report stated.
"In the aforementioned circumstances, we have no choice but to issue non-bailable warrants against Ranjit Singh Deol, Secretary of the Government of Maharashtra, School Education and Sports Department, and Santosh Gaikwad, Upper Secretary of the Government of Maharashtra, School Education and Sports Department, Mumbai," the High Court declared in its order.
The bench directed the Nagpur Police Commissioner to personally execute the warrants and produce the officials before the court on November 6.
