HC pulls up North MCD for not paying salaries to teachers

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday came down heavily on the North Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) over the issue of teachers not receiving their due salaries, in the wake of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak. The court reprimanded the municipal counsels and asked why the teachers who are not on COVID-19 duty have not been paid their salaries. Notably, the High Court had been involved for the past month in holding the municipal corporations accountable for not paying the teachers their due salary. Weeks ago, the North MCD had admitted before the Court that the salaries for 3,600 teachers, who were not employed in COVID-19 duties, were not paid in the month of March. Following that, from April to June this year, none of the teachers have been paid their salaries of three months. The High Court had also said that the municipal corporations need to take accountability instead of putting the blame on the Delhi government. To this end, the NDMC had insisted that there is a paucity of funds right now and that the salaries of the teachers could only be paid after the funds arrive. For the sake of clarity, the Delhi High Court has instructed the Delhi Education Department and the MCD to file separate status reports regarding the funds that are due to be paid as salaries to the teachers for the financial year 2020-21, the funds that have been disbursed till now and the extent of the unpaid amounts. “The status report that the North MCD will file shall indicate the amount that has been released to its teachers in terms of our order and the number of teachers, and for which period,” the order had said.