TED NewsDesk, New Delhi: On Monday, the Delhi High Court stated that it would entertain a PIL submitted by the teachers of Delhi University for the non-payment of their salaries. The teachers have submitted public interest litigation (PIL) which is to be heard by a division bench on September 24. These colleges are affiliated to the university and fully funded by the Delhi government.
Justice Jyoti Singh has ordered the matter to appear before a suitable bench as considered by the Chief Justice. Advocate Ashok Agarwal who represents the teachers, requested the High Court to hear the plea.
According to the petition, there are additional employees, teaching and non- teaching, who did not receive their salaries for May, June, July, and August. The Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) members, who filed the plea via advocate Kumar Utkarsh, said they represent the distressed staff of DU. They informed that they requested the government to release the funds for the 12 DU colleges to make payments to 1500 teaching and non- teaching staff.
According to the plea,
“The impugned actions are unjust, unfair, arbitrary, discriminatory, unethical, unconstitutional, violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India read with the provisions of Delhi University Act, 1922. The impugned actions are bad in law as much as the same is violative of right to life as well as the right to livelihood as guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India,”
The staff who haven’t received their dues have a hard time keeping their lives afloat. Such a keen lack of finance makes them helpless and mentally pressurised. The teachers added that it is quite unfair and unjustified to receive their dues quite behind time. The PIL asked for the authorities to process their payments from May to the present, it also asked to make sure they receive their future payments on time.
The 12 Delhi University colleges that are fully funded by the AAP government are as following: Acharya Narendra Dev College, Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar College, Bhaskaracharya College of Applied Sciences, Bhagini Nivedita College, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, Aditi Mahavidyalaya Women’s College, India Gandhi Institute of Physical Education and Sports Sciences. Other colleges include Keshav Mahavidhyalaya, Maharaja Agrasen College (DU), Maharshi Valmiki College of Education, Shaheed Rajguru College of Applied Sciences for Women, and Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies.
Not receiving their due salaries makes it harder to survive, especially in the current situation when Coronavirus is putting a stop to most of the secondary sources of income. The government should sincerely pay attention to the teachers’ plea and give them their due payments.
