Kolkata(West Bengal): The Calcutta High Court on Friday barred the headmaster of a school in West Bengal's South 24 Paraganas district from entering the school premises for allegedly holding back the salary of a teacher without any specific reason. The headmaster Sheikh Safi Alam allegedly withheld the salary of an English teacher Raju Jana at the Pallimangal School in North 24 Parganas' Golabari area.
Jana, a resident of Gobardanga in North 24 Parganas district, has been teaching English at the school since 2013. But the headmaster allegedly withheld his salary for two years from December 2018 to December 2020. He claimed that Jana had been absent from school several times and despite being issued a showcause notice he did not respond. But the headmaster could not produce any document or any instruction from the district school inspector in the court based on which he instructed the salary to be withheld.
However, Jana alleged that apart from his salary, the headmaster has withheld the salary of three or four more teachers of the school without furnishing any reason. "The headmaster is so influential in the area that he even threatened to shoot me. He even told me to feed 1000 students at a mid-day meal and show 3000 in my notebook, which I refused. So besides me, he had stopped the salaries of three more teachers of the school," Raju Jana said in the court.
"The headmaster withdrew salary through another teacher after replacing him. The attendance register was distorted by the whitener. He also took extra donations from the students," Jana added. During the hearing, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay expressed his displeasure over the incident and asked the headmaster the reason behind his decision.
"Why did you keep the salary of the teacher on hold from December 2018 to December 2020? Is the school your zamindari? Do you pay the salary? said Justice Gangopadhyay.Upon hearing this, the headmaster Sheikh Safi Alam broke down and immediately with folded hands apologized to the judge and asked to be forgiven."I will never do such a thing in my life," he said.
Justice Gangopadhyay instructed heasdmaster not to enter the school premises till June 8 and instructed the Barasat Superintendent of Police to post two armed policemen at the school concerned so that the headmaster could not enter. He also asked both sides to file an affidavit on May 18.
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