Stick for five for pay delay to teacher... pay five lakh from their salaries -- High Court

TT, Calcutta: A Calcutta High Court order has led the government to identify five employees responsible for delaying the disbursal of dues to a Malda schoolteacher and deduct Rs 5 lakh from their salaries that the state had to pay as interest to the petitioner.

On Wednesday, Justice Debangshu Basak directed Abanindra Kumar Singh, the commissioner of school education, to produce the documents showing that the amount deducted from the employees' salaries had been deposited in the government exchequer.

"The practice of delaying the disbursal of legitimate dues of employees should stop immediately. The different departments of the state would have to take lessons from the current order," said Justice Basak.

According to the case records, Altaf Hussein, an assistant teacher of Malda Sukanta Memorial School, had filed a petition in the high court after the education department failed to give him salary at a higher scale despite him obtaining a Masters degree.

Justice Tapan Sen, a former judge of the court, had in 2007 ordered the state government to disburse the salary, due to the teacher from 2000, within two months.

Hussein waited for eight years. When the department did not obey the order, he moved another petition in the high court in 2015.

Justice Basak had then directed the education department to disburse the amount due to the teacher along with an 18 per cent interest by November 2016.

But the government still failed to obey the order and Justice Basak asked the commissioner of school education to be present in court on August 4 this year.

As the commissioner did not turn up, the judge asked him to appear on August 16 along with the cheque of the dues with 18 per cent interest.

The judge also directed a departmental inquiry to find out the employees responsible for the delay.

On Wednesday, a report was placed before the court along with the list of five employees of the "grant aid section" department who were found responsible for the delay. The report also gave the details of the amounts deducted from the employees.