NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Friday observed that teachers doing their duty during the pandemic can be equated to corona warriors. While hearing a petition over pending salaries of teaching staff in North Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) schools, the court lamented at the authority in the national capital which has not paid salaries to them since the lockdown was imposed.
“This is a very sorry state of affairs,” observed a bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad, while taking a strong note of the fact that even doctors and safai karamcharis are not being given their dues by the North DMC. The high court was hearing a plea filed on behalf of the teachers, seeking direction to the authorities to pay their salaries which were due since March.
The high court converted the plea into a ‘suo motu petition’. It directed the Delhi government to file an affidavit responding to the averments made by the North DMC within one week. “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 bench said.
The bench, which had on June 18, directed the North DMC to pay arrears of salaries within a week, was told by the civic body that besides teachers, salaries have not been paid to various categories of employees, starting from group ‘A’ officers to doctors and safai karamcharis as the Delhi Government has not released the amount to the civic body. It noted that only when judicial orders were passed, government released the amount for March salaries and North DMC teachers were paid in the morning itself.
More than 5,000 teachers on Covid duty
5406 teachers have been deployed on Covid-19 duty as 299 schools run by North DMC are taken by the Delhi government for providing dry ration and cooked meals to needy persons during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. However, they have not received their salries since March.