HC orders the state to pay salaries to teachers

The state pays salaries to total of 21,000 teachers

15,000 teachers got their salaries after starting an account

Remaining 6,000 teachers refused to comply

Mumbai High Court has come to the rescue of nearly 6,000 teachers who did not receive their salaries. The HC has ordered the state to credit the salaries in a common bank account through which the salaries are to be disbursed, and also gave an interim order until the next hearing scheduled on 6 September, about the opening of an account with MDCB. It is likely that the teachers will get their salaries before August 25.

The state education department had issued government resolution (GR), dated June 3, asking all the government-aided primary and secondary schools to switch to district co-operative bank from nationalised banks. This came as a shock to the teachers who refused to do so hinting towards the tainted history of Mumbai District Co-operative Bank (MDCB) which is under the scanner for INR 123 crore scam.

The GR stated that MDCB will disburse the salaries from July 1, which was earlier handled by the Union Bank of India since 2011.

This led to a lot of chaos as the Teachers Democratic Front filed a petition against the GR, and MLC Kapil Patil also stood against the state’s directive. Further, secondary school teachers from Mumbai Teachers’ Democratic Front, Adarsh Shikshak Mitra and Adarsh Shikshak Sangha staged a protest at the Nitin Bachav's office (education inspector of West Zone) in Jogeshwari.

Shikshak Bharati teachers organisation had also filed a petition seeking a withdrawal of a government resolution.

Why are teachers opposing to MDCB bank?
The bank is led by BJP MLC and Chairman, Pravin Darekar. Back in 2015, he was booked by Mumbai Police for causing a loss of INR 123 crore through embezzlement of funds. Currently, the Economic Offences Wing is interrogating Darekar.