About 27,000 teachers of private aided schools have not received their February salary following a row over which bank should hold their salary accounts.
On Monday, Education Minister Vinod Tawde apologised to teachers for not crediting their salaries on Gudi Padwa and promised to do so within three days.
Shikshak Bharati, the teachers’ union, said the government in July 2017 suddenly moved their salary accounts from Union Bank to Mumbai District Central Cooperative Bank (MDCCB), whose chairperson is BJP legislator Pravin Darekar.
The National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD) had recently accused MDCCB, also known as Mumbai bank, of gross financial mismanagement with high operational risk. Recently, the union won a case in the Bombay High Court to revert their accounts to Union Bank. The High Court had asked the State government to make the change by February. The State appealed against the ruling in the Supreme Court, but the plea was dismissed on Monday.
Mr. Tawde has blamed the petitioner, MLC Kapil Patil, for insisting on shifting the bank accounts and causing a delay in the February salary being credited. However, Mr. Patil accused Mr. Tawde of withholding the salaries to bail out MDCCB.
The Education Department has now issued an official order directing the salary accounts of teachers in Mumbai and Thane to be shifted to Union Bank and Thane Zilla Central Co-operative Bank respectively.
