Rajasthan High Court has directed to hold salary of IAS Subir Kumar, principal secretary higher education till April 4, 2024 – the date of hearing of a case related to non-grant of salary to teaching staff of a government college for more than a year.
The court expressed its anguish for not submitting reply in the matter and said that apathy towards staff is not acceptable.
Subir Kumar, the present principal secretary of higher education took over the post in February this year. His predecessor Bhawani Singh Detha was then principal secretary higher education when the high court had sought reply from the government.
The bench of Justice Ganesh Ram Meena, hearing petition of one Sanjay Yadav has further directed principal secretary higher education Subir Kumar to be present in the court proceedings either through video conferencing or in person in the next hearing scheduled on April 4, 2024.
What is the case:
The advocate of petitioners Ram Pratap Saini told The BuckStopper that the government had taken over the Baba Mohan Ram Kissan Government College in Bhiwadi on March 3, 2021 from a trust which used to operate the college. Though the government acquired the college but refused to accept the service of college lecturers who were appointed by the trust. The college lecturers moved high court on this issue.
The court, on hearing their petition, put stay on removal of college lecturers and other staff on April 24, 2023. Since then the lecturers and staff are working in the college but the government is not releasing their salaries.
Upset with this, the staff and lectures again approached the high court and sought their balance salaries. The court held hearing on December 4, 2023. But the state government did not present any reply before the court. The reply is still pending.
The court showed its anger over state government for taking services from staff without any payment of salaries for around a year. It then directed to hold salary of principal secretary higher education till he appears before the court in the next hearing scheduled in April 4, 2024.
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