Chennai: Observing that educational authorities cannot allow themselves to be used as tools by the teaching and non-teaching staff to bring the management to its knees, the Madras high court has set aside the orders of educational authorities for direct payment of salaries to the staff of Sir M.Ct. Muthiah Chettiar boys higher secondary school in Purasawalkam, Chennai.
“The case on hand is a standing testimony to the fact that if the management and the staff of an educational institution are at loggerheads, the stream of education can get polluted to a frustrating level,” said Justice V. Ramasubramanian.
Allowing a petition from the school, represented by its correspondent, the judge directed the district educational officer (DEO) to release the staff grant and maintenance grant to the management.
The judge said from 2011, trouble started brewing in the institution with the management and staff trading allegations. On February 29, 2012, when the staff decided to stage a demonstration inside the school, the management approached the high court and obtained an interim order. But, on the same day, the DEO ordered direct disbursement of the grant-in-aid to the staff, bypassing the management.
Though the DEO inspected the school recommended withdrawal of direct disbursement in 2013, the chief educational officer rejected it stating that the DEO had made the recommendations without consulting the office-bearers of the association of teaching and non-teaching staff, the judge added.
The judge said it was clear from the TN Recognised Private Schools (Regulation) Act that the disbursement of grant to the secretary of the school was the rule and direct disbursement was for special circumstances.
The DEO was the competent authority to sanction grant. The appellate authority committed a grave error in thinking that the association of teaching and non-teaching staff had a right to dictate things. The staff had never claimed that their pay and allowances were not properly disbursed. Right from 2011, their only grievance was that the management wanted to enforce discipline, the judge added.
