The Bombay high court on Friday directed the principal secretary of the tribal development department to file a reply as to why the salaries of the cooks and other staffers at the ashram shalas in Melghat haven’t been paid. The court has asked him to file a reply within three weeks starting Friday.
A division bench of Justice Dhananjaya Chandrachud and Justice S.C. Gupte was hearing a petition filed by Nawalsingh Ramlal Mawaskar. Taking cognisance of the matter, the bench said, “How can these ashram shalas run without cooks? We direct the principal secretary of the tribal development department to file an affidavit explaining as to why salaries weren’t paid within three weeks,” said the bench.
The petitioner’s lawyer, Gayatri Singh, had earlier informed the court that the salaries of 72 cooks and helpers of the ashram
shalas had not been paid since June 2012. “There are around three ashram shalas in Melghat. The state’s children’s commission had investigated one of these two years ago and come out with a report stating that the conditions were pathetic,” said Ms Singh.
She added, “As per the report, there were no classes, there were no proper toilets, and even girls had to go out in the open to relieve themselves. Instead of acting upon the report, the government passed a notification for the ‘re-allocation’ of around 1,000 posts of cooks and helpers across Maharashtra. In a way they were abolishing these posts.”
The staffers were again called when the situation in these ashram shalas turned desparate, however, they haven’t been paid since then, she said.