WORKING CONDITIONS OF PRIVATE SCHOOL TEACHERS IN DELHI
COMMON CAUSE had been receiving oral complaints from various sources that teachers engaged by private schools on contract basis are being maltreated. Obviously, the victims cannot raise their voices for fear of being thrown out. A study conducted by our organization confirmed the rampant malpractices in private schools. We took up the matter with the Department of Education, Government of NCT of Delhi and requested them to introduce a monitoring system for watching over the teachers engaged by private schools and make their working conditions more conducive for imparting quality education to children. As we did not receive any reply, we filed a Writ Petition (No. 6779 of 2006) in the High Court of Delhi. The Hon'ble Court has since issued orders that the Director of Education, Government of NCT of Delhi should investigate within six weeks the cases referred to it by COMMON CAUSE and take appropriate action under the Delhi School Education Act, 1973, taking due care to conceal the identity of the complaints. The Order of the Delhi High Court is reproduced below:
ORDER
"This petition was filed by the petitioner on the ground that some private unaided schools are violating the mandate Section 10 of the Delhi School Education Act, 1973 by not paying salary, which is payable to teachers.
Section 10 of the Delhi School Education Act mandates that the salary, pay and allowances payable to the employees of the recognized private schools will not be less than those payable to employees of Government schools. It is for the Directorate of Education to take action against the schools which violates Section 10 by de-recognising them or taking over the management and functioning of such schools. This is the statutory responsibility of the Director of Education. However, we feel that as and when there is an allegation, the said allegation must be specified and must be directed against the concerned school by giving the specific instances.
Considering the facts and circumstances of this case, we are of the opinion that if the petitioner receives any such complaint/information shall be given to the concerned person or the Additional Director of Education. As an when such a complaint is made, the same shall be enquired into and investigated upon by the said Additional Director by sending someone to the school immediately for making the necessary enquiry and, thereafter, by issue of notice in accordance with law. Any such enquiry shall also be completed within a period of six weeks. It is also made clear that the identity of the teacher, who makes the aforesaid complaint shall be kept secret by the Additional Director, so as to protect the interest of the complainant.
We may also state that the order that we are passing today is in consonance with the provisions of Section 24 of the Delhi School Education Act.
The petition stands disposed of in terms of the aforesaid order.
A copy of this order be given Dasti to counsel for the parties".
Chief Justice
UPDATES
• Mr. J. R. Jindal, Industrialist, who had been a member of the Governing Council of COMMON CAUSE for the last 15 years, expired on July 22, 2007 after a brief illness. He had been forceful in articulating various public problems affecting the citizens of the National Capital Region. The COMMON CAUSE family has suffered an irreparable loss in the demise of Mr. Jindal, who had always played a leading role in the governance of COMMON CAUSE Society.
• Dr. B.P. Mathur, IA&AS (Retd.) former Deputy Comptroller & Auditor General of India, has been inducted as a member of the Governing Council in the vacancy caused by the death of Mr. J. R. Jindal. He has also been appointed Hony. Treasurer of the Society.
• The Readers may recollect that it was mentioned in our Journal of April June, 2007 that we were awaiting the renewal of the exemption under Section 80-G of the Income Tax Act for donations to COMMON CAUSE. We are pleased to announce that further exemption under Section 80-G of the I.T. Act for the period from April 1, 2007 to March 31, 2010 has since been received from the Income Tax authorities.
