9000 teachers paid till March, 5,406 got dues till April: North Delhi Municipal Corporation to HC

The North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NrDMC) informed the Delhi High Court on Tuesday that it has paid salaries to all 9,000 teachers employed by its schools for the month of March and that 5,406 teachers on Covid duty have been paid their dues for April.

A division bench of the high court presided over by Justices Hima Kohli and Subromonium Prasad, after noting the submissions made by the NrDMC, observed that this would still leave the months of May and June.

The Delhi High Court was informed by the NrDMC that it has paid salaries to all 9,000 teachers engaged by it till March, and 5,406 of them, who were put on Covid-19 duty, were given their dues for April.

Following these submissions and observations, the high court sought fresh status report from the Delhi government and the NrDMC, while listing the matter for further hearing on August 5.

During the course of hearing, advocate Mini Pushkarna, the standing counsel for NrDMC, appraised the court that the salaries of all the teachers employed by its schools have been paid for the month of March, while the April dues of 5,406 teachers on Covid duty were released on July 14.

Pushkarna further told the bench that salaries of the remaining teachers for the month of April would be released by the end of July.

In its affidavit filed before the court, the Delhi government has informed that the grant-in-aid payable by it to the NrDMC for release of salaries to its teachers was Rs 147 crore for the first quarter of this year (April to June), and the same has been released in three monthly tranches.

"The said amount was released in three monthly tranches, for the months of April, May and June. As for the grant-in-aid required to be released by the Delhi government for the second quarter, including Rs 49.17 crore for the month of July, will be released by the end of July and the remaining two tranches of the like amount at the end of August and September," the Delhi government said.

The court was hearing a petition initiated by it on its own motion regarding the disbursement of unpaid salaries of teachers employed in schools run by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation.

Previously, the court had pulled up the civic body over non-payment of salaries to teachers who are also deployed on Covid-19 duty, while stating that it is a "sorry state of affairs" where the teachers, who can be equated to corona warriors, have not been paid salaries since the lockdown was imposed.

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Taking strong note of non-payment of salaries to the safai karamcharis and the teachers, the bench had taken suo moto cognizance of the issue and converted it into a public interest litigation (PIL).

"This is a sorry state of affairs. Teachers belong to one of the noble professions and as they are made to do Covid-19 duty also, they can be equated to Covid-19 warriors. Despite that, they have been deprived of their dues since March 2020," the court had remarked.