HC grants interim stay over Ashram Shala teachers

Aurangabad, Aug 28:

Aurangabad bench of Bombay High Court comprising Justice S V Gangapurwala and Justice Rajesh Ladda granted an interim stay in Ashram Shala (residential school for ST students) teachers until further orders.

The court said that the salary of the petitioners would continue as usual and the next hearing has been placed after six weeks.

The petitioners- Nilesh Mohan Choudhary, Deochand Bagul, Nivedita Bhosale and Nitin Chavan, were appointed teachers at Ashram School (secondary) run by Marathwada Banjara Seva Sangh, Ghanegaon Tanda, in 2013.

These teachers were working on non-grant posts.

When some teachers from granted posts retired, they were transferred and merged in aided posts of the school.

The proposal of permission of each teacher was sent for approval to the Assistant Commissioner and divisional deputy commissioner of the Social Welfare Department. The officers rejected the proposal of approval.

The then principal secretary of Bahujan Kalyan Department Padmakar Walvi accepted the appeal of teaches and issued orders on April 15, 2021, about releasing salary as per the pay scale.

He had also asked the officers to enter the names of the teachers in ‘Sevaarth’ system. The salaries of the teachers were released. Gupta took charge of the department as principal secretary. He cancelled all the orders issued during the tenure of Padmakar Walvi, on July 22, 2021. The individual appointment of each teacher was also cancelled. The teachers' salary was stopped.

So, they filed a petition through adv Sambhaji Tope, who brought to the notice of the court that teachers had been facing inconvenience due to differences over officer level. He argued that the principal secretary has no power to file a review plea and take a decision against his own orders.

“The petitioners were not given any opportunity to present their side. It has passed six years duration after giving the approval to the teachers on the basis of their eligibility. The teachers are eligible for seniority. While rejecting the proposals, the officers have not taken into consideration vacant granted posts,” adv Tope said.

Hearing the arguments, the court granted an interim stay and directed to issue notice to respondents. Adv S G Karlekar has represented the Government.