The Bombay High Court directed three Maharashtra government departments to deposit a total of ₹27.91 crore with the court within two weeks towards outstanding amounts payable to Sinhgad Technical Education Society (STES), after noting that around 1,200 teaching and non-teaching employees have been struggling with prolonged salary dues.

The court directed the Directorate of Technical Education to deposit ₹13.36 lakh, the OBC Welfare Department to deposit ₹25.21 crore and the Tribal Development Department to deposit ₹2.56 crore. (HT FILE)

A division bench of Justice G S Kulkarni and Justice Neela Gokhale, in an order passed on September 19, described the situation as “unprecedented”, noting that around 100 petitions had been filed by the employees of the society, which runs several schools and colleges.

The court directed the Directorate of Technical Education to deposit ₹13.36 lakh, the OBC Welfare Department to deposit ₹25.21 crore and the Tribal Development Department to deposit ₹2.56 crore. The deposits are to be made “without any further extension or any excuses whatsoever”, failing which the default would be treated as a breach of the court’s order.

The order records that STES had undertaken before the court on August 1 to clear ₹21.04 crore in outstanding salaries by August 31. However, in an affidavit filed on September 18, STES founder president Maruti Nivrutti Navale said the society could not clear the entire amount because of financial constraints.

The society attributed its financial difficulties partly to pending fee reimbursements from government departments for students from reserved categories. The court was informed that the OBC Welfare Department had identified ₹61.61 crore as payable to STES for the period from 2018-19 to 2025-26.

STES also claimed that ₹8.98 crore relating to the period from 2011-12 to 2017-18 remained unpaid. The court, however, noted that this claim was not part of the earlier writ petition and would have to be considered separately.

The bench also expressed concern over the role of education authorities in the matter.

“It is a serious issue on the part of the education authorities as to why appropriate action as the law would mandate was not taken,” it said, directing the state and the concerned authorities to respond at the next hearing.

Subject to hearing the parties, the court said it would consider whether the Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Transfer of Management) Act, 1971 and the Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Management) Act, 1976 should be invoked if the problems continued and STES failed to address employees’ grievances.

The matter was adjourned to October 5.