PATHANAMTHITTA: A 47-year-old man from Athikkayam, Ranni, died by suicide, reportedly due to financial stress stemming from alleged bureaucratic negligence and a 14-year delay in payment of the salary of his wife, a schoolteacher.
V.T. Shijo, a field staff member in the Agriculture Department, was found hanging in the Moongampara forest on Sunday evening. According to family members, Shijo was under immense mental and financial strain after failing to arrange the fees required for his son’s admission to an engineering college in Erode, Tamil Nadu.
Shijo's wife, Lekha Raveendran, a teacher at an aided school in Naranamuzhi, has reportedly not received her salary for the past 12 to 14 years. Despite a High Court order directing the disbursement of the full salary with arrears before January 7, 2025, only a meagre amount was paid, the family said.
Lekha had approached the court after repeated attempts to get her salary failed. The High Court ruling in her favor instructed the Education Department to process the payment retroactively. However, Shijo’s father, T. Thyagarajan, a retired bank employee, alleged that officials at the District Educational Office (DEO) failed to implement the court's directives due to improper documentation and bureaucratic delay.
Thyagarajan accused the DEO of ignoring the High Court’s orders despite repeated follow-ups, even after intervention from the Education Minister's office. He also alleged that the school manager’s legal counsel deliberately prolonged the case. “We are tired of visiting the DEO office and making calls to the minister’s office. No one took responsibility,” he said.
In response to the allegations, the Education Department issued a clarification stating that the DEO had provided the headmaster with the necessary order for salary fixation. The department claimed that instructions to disburse the salary were conveyed to the headmaster, who was the official concerned, and that the High Court ruling applied to the teacher.
(If you are having suicidal thoughts, or are worried about a friend or need emotional support, someone is always there to listen. Call Sneha Foundation - 04424640050, Tele Manas - 14416 (available 24x7) or iCall, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences' helpline - 02225521111, which is available Monday to Saturday from 8 am to 10 pm.)