KARACHI: Unlawful pay cuts sting teachers before Eid
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Dec 19: An unrecorded and unauthorised cut in the December 2007 salary paid to a number of school teachers through cheques on the last working day before the holidays has raised concern among the teaching fraternity.
Teachers from a couple of government primary schools in Gulshan-i-Iqbal Town told Dawn that they have been paying a certain amount to their school heads or drawing and disbursing officers concerned in the name of “ooper walon ka kharcha” (expenses for the high-ups) against the delivery of salary in cash or cheques for the past many months. But this time things proved unbearable as teachers were required to surrender an amount ranging from Rs500 to Rs800 from their salaries.
“We were asked to acknowledge the receipt of the sanctioned salary in line with the official payroll on computerised sheets. But, in actuality, cheques for a lesser amount were issued to us,” said a teacher from a goth who requested anonymity on Wednesday.
Moreover, the directives of the government for advance payment of salary in view of Eidul Azha also did not prove beneficial as teachers were issued cheques at the eleventh hour, leaving no room for encashment of cheques either issued as ‘cross’ or ‘open’ on Wednesday.
It was learnt that in some schools teachers expressed concern about this unusual and unauthorised deduction from their salaries, but their protests turned out to be in vain. Teachers were of the view that district officers and assistant district officers responsible for education in the city district government should be asked to explain why they resorted to making reduced payments to teachers and whose kitty swallowed up the money.
When contacted, Karim Bakhsh Burdi, the District Officer (Elementary Education), said that salary cheques could be delivered to teachers only on Wednesday as the payroll concerned was received from the AG Sindh office very late.
Answering another question, he said that government officers were expressly told to issue only open cheques to teachers this time so that they could present those in banks in the evening hours for encashment. “I understand that a good number of teachers have not been able to get the benefit of advance payment of the December salary due to procedural requirements,” he added.
Regarding complaints about undue deductions, Mr Burdi said that he would certainly look into the matter on his own and may also hold an inquiry, but the aggrieved teachers, who claimed they were forced to surrender portions of their salary, should also “show some courage and bring up the issue officially so that the problem could be eliminated”.
He agreed that the salary amount written in the bank cheques and counterfoils should match the salary amount ordered by the AG Sindh office. Otherwise, fishy developments could be expected.
