This is pay time. Online shopping marts usually make payday offers enticing people to make big purchases in the first week of the month. However, in Covid times, crediting of salary has become highly irregular and the private sector is not the only one hit. In Delhi, even the payment of the salaries of state government employees has become a matter for the court’s intervention.
At least two segments – doctors and school teachers -- have taken to the courts and managed to get relief. The ruling Aam Aadmi Party has been blaming the municipal corporations for the non-payment of salaries. On the other hand, the BJP-ruled corporations have been crying hoarse citing the failure of the Kejriwal government in releasing sufficient grants.
This ‘cat and mouse’ act has been going on for over five years now and at times has led to spewing of garbage for days on the national capital’s roads. However, what has got the goat of people this time is the non-payment of salaries since May to the faculty and administrative staff of the 12 Delhi University colleges which are funded by the Delhi government.
These colleges are Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, Bhim Rao Ambedkar College, Mahrishi Valmiki B.Ed College, Maharaja Agrasen College, Shaheed Rajguru Women’s College, Deen Dayal Upadhyay College, Indira Gandhi College of Physical Education, Bhaskaracharya College, Acharya Narendra Dev Women’s College, Keshav Mahavidyalaya, Bhagini Nivedita Women’s College, and Aditi Women’s Mahavidyalaya. In addition to non-payment of salaries, there has been no encashment of the medical bills, pension bills and retirement benefits also.
The situation has arisen after the Delhi government has gone almost bankrupt during the coronavirus crisis. Many of these colleges have over the years earned established themselves as Centres of Excellence and winning accolades in the inspections by the National Assessment Accreditation Council (NAAC) and the surveys by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) of the Ministry of Education. Unfortunately, these colleges are facing power and internet disconnection for the non-payment of the bills in the absence of grants and funds by the government.
The situation in these 12 colleges has created a class diarchy within the University. The prestigious university has over 80 colleges affiliated to it. In the 68-odd colleges funded by the University Grants Commission, the salaries and other dues are being paid on time. While the Delhi government- funded colleges are governed by the same university statutes and ordinances, there has been no payment of dues since May. The AAP, which came to power claiming that it would open 100 new colleges in the national capital, has followed policies that have caused much decay in the system.
In the last six years, it has failed to regularly sanction grants for these colleges on some pretext or the other. This time, after funds were delayed, Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia levelled charges of mismanagement of funds. However, this was effectively rebutted by the University to which the government has offered no counter. It’s said that prudent fiscal management is key to good governance.
The unwarranted expenditure on publicity by raising a team of ‘publicity warriors’, subsiding power and water bills, paying them from taxpayer’s money, and paying disproportionate compensation to Corona martyrs— done to win brawny points vis-a-vis its political opponents, has led the government to the edge of the precipice. With the Centre making clear that it would delay the release of the states’ share of GST earnings, the Delhi Government, not surprisingly, could soon be seen knocking the doors of the Reserve Bank of India for a loan.
SIDHARTH MISHRA
Author & President, Centre for Reforms, Development & Justice