907- WP-6218-2025.DOC IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION WRIT PETITION NO. 6218 OF 2025 Tejashree Rameshchandra Aute ...Petitioner Versus The State of Maharashtra Thr Principal Secretary for Education & Ors. ...Respondents _______ Mr Avinash Fatangare, with Archana Shelar & Vishakha Pandit, for Petitioner. Mr Aditya R Deolekar, AGP for State-Respondent Nos.1 to 5. Mr Prashant P Digraskar, Education Officer (Secondary), Zilla Parishad, Nashik, present. ______ CORAM: G. S. KULKARNI & DR. NEELA GOKHALE, JJ. DATE: 27 AUGUST 2026 P.C. 1. This Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India is filed, praying for the following substantive reliefs: “a. That this Hon'ble Court be pleased to issue a writ, order or direction or a writ of Mandamus thereby directing the Respondent no.4 to absorb the services of the Petitioner. b. That this Hon'ble Court be pleased to issue a writ, order or direction or a writ of Mandamus thereby directing the Respondent no.4 to release the salary of the Petitioner from 04.01.2024. c. That this Hon'ble Court be pleased to issue writ, order or direction or a writ of Mandamus thereby directing the Respondent no.4 to fix Shivgan 907- WP-6218-2025.DOC the salary of the Petitioner as per the 7th pay commission and pay the differential amount to the Petitioner. d. Pending the hearing and final disposal of this petition the Respondent No.1 to 4 be directed to pay the salary of the Petitioner regularly.” 2. On the last occasion (20th August 2026), we have passed an order recording that the Petitioner be permitted to join the New English School, Adgaon, Nashik. The said order is required to be noted and reads thus:- “1 In pursuance of our order dated 18th August 2026, the Education Officer (Secondary), who was not issuing instructions to the AGP, is present in the Court today. He has addressed a communication dated 19th August 2026 to the learned AGP, inter alia, stating that in pursuance of the order dated 18th August 2026, the Petitioner is now required to join New English School, Adgaon, Nashik, where she is absorbed. He has accordingly permitted the Petitioner to join the said School. Accordingly, the New English School, Atgaon, Nashik is directed to accept the report of the Petitioner and permit her to join her duties. 2 Mr. Fatangare, learned counsel for the Petitioner, submitted that the Petitioner would immediately report to New English School, Adgaon, Nashik and join her duties today. 3 Let appropriate compliance be reported on the adjourned date of hearing. 4 List the proceedings on 25th August 2026 under the caption ‘for directions’. 5 Parties to act on an authenticated copy of this order.” Shivgan 907- WP-6218-2025.DOC 3. In pursuance of what has been observed in the aforesaid order, the Petitioner has already been absorbed. Thereafter, the proceedings were listed before us on 25th August 2026 when we passed the following order:- “1 Stand over to 27 August 2026 on the supplementary board, so as to enable the concerned officer, who has issued the instructions which, in our opinion, are wholly untenable, to take a position in regard to the release of the dues payable to the petitioner. In the event the affidavit is not placed on record, the concerned officer is directed to remain present before the Court on the adjourned date of hearing. 2 This is in view of the fact that, even on the earlier occasion, the said officer appeared to be not giving instructions in the manner expected of a Government official to the learned AGP. It was only when the proceedings were listed before this Court and when the Court took a serious view of the matter, that he took further steps, as recorded in our earlier order. Such an approach cannot be perpetuated. Accordingly, we direct the concerned officer to remain present before the Court, along with his affidavit, on the adjourned date of hearing.” 4. In such context, a reply affidavit has now been filed by Mr Prashant P Digraskar, Education Officer (Secondary) Zilla Parishad, Nashik, in which it is inter alia pointed out that the regular salary of the Petitioner will be cleared within one month. As regards the supplementary arrear bills of the Petitioner, a minimum period of three months and a maximum period of seven months will be taken to pay the same. In our opinion, there ought not to be any undue delay, and an endeavour needs to be made to make payment of the regular salary bills and also the supplementary arrear bills as expeditiously as possible and in any case within Shivgan 907- WP-6218-2025.DOC the timeframe as stated in the affidavit. The relevant contents of the said affidavit are required to be noted, which read thus:- “4. Having stated the above, it is necessary to point out various steps which are involved in processing of salaries bills of School Staff through Shalarth System and which are set out below: a. As regards the Regular Salary Bills: i. Regular Salary Bills are first submitted online by the Principal Concerned School (i.e. DDO-1) through Shalarth System to the office of Superintendent, Pay and Provident Fund Unit (i.e. DDO-2). ii. Upon receipt of the Regular Salary Bills from DDO-1, such bills are consolidated by the DDO-2. iii. Subsequently, after generating MTR Form No. 44 as per Maharashtra Treasury Rules, 1968 and Authorization Letter generated on Distribution System (BDS), offline Salary bills are Budget prepared by the DDO-2. iv. Consequently, the DDO-2 submits the, offline Salary bills together with the MTR Form No. 44, Authorization Letter, schedules of deductions and invoices are submitted to the Maharashtra Government Treasury. It is noteworthy to point out that, the Regular Salary Bills of School Staff have been processed and paid through the Shalarth System since March, 2014 when such process was introduced for the first time, except during the period between 2017-2018 when such online system was closed due to technical reasons. b. As regards the Supplementary Arrear Bills: i. Arrear Bills are first verified online by the DDO-1 (i.e. Principal of the Concerned School) and upon such verification as well as after uploading of necessary documents, the same are then submitted to DDO-2 (i.e. Superintendent, Pay and Provident Fund Unit) through Shalarth System. Page 4 of 8 Shivgan 907- WP-6218-2025.DOC ii. Pursuant to the above, DDO-2 again verifies the Arrear Bills apart from confirming the necessary documents uploaded along with such bills by DDO-1. iii. Subject to the aforesaid verification and confirmation, the Arrear Bills are either approved or rejected by DDO-2. If such bills are approved, then they are categorized as follows: 1. Form-A: Current Financial Year; 2. Form-B: 1 to 6 years 3. Form-C: Above 6 years. iv. Subsequently, the batches of the approved bills are generated and upon doing so, a certificate is generated in the Shalarth System. v. Such certificate is to be signed by DDO-2 and such signed certificate is to be mandatorily uploaded on the Shalarath System. vi. Thereafter, the batches of the approved bills are forwarded online to the office of the Education Officer by DDO-2. vii. The office of the Education Officer upon receiving the batches of the approved bills under Form-A, and/or Form-B and/or Form-C, verifies such bills for the first time and such batch(es) are then either approved or rejected. In case of approval of batch(es), a certificate is generated in the Shalarth System which needs to be signed by Education Officer and then uploaded in such system so that, the such approved batch(es) of the bills are forwarded online to the office of the Deputy Director of Education. Page 5 of 8 Shivgan 907- WP-6218-2025.DOC viii. Likewise, the office of the Deputy Director of Education follows the same process of verification of the forwarded batch(es) and then forwards the approved batch(es) to the office of Director of Education upon uploading of duly signed version of the certificate which is generated on approval(s). ix. The office of the Director of Education upon receiving the batch(es) of Arrear Bills from the office of Deputy Director of Education undertakes following steps: 1. as regards the batch(es) of Form-A & Form-B: a. the same are either approved or rejected pursuant to a verification exercise; b. Approved Batch(es) receive Final Sanction and thereafter such sanctioned batch(es) are forwarded to the office of the DDO-2 who upon receipt of the same, prepares offline bills after consolidating these bills. c. Thereafter, DDO-2 submits consolidated offline sanctioned bills to Maharashtra Government Treasury. d. Once the aforesaid bills are cleared, the funds are directly credited into bank accounts of the respective school staff via the e-Kuber System. 2. as regards the batch(es) of Form-C: a. the same are either approved or rejected pursuant to a verification exercise and b. later the approved batch(es) to are forwarded online the School Education Department of Government of Maharashtra after uploading of duly signed certificate by the Director of Education which is generated on such system. Page 6 of 8 Shivgan 907- WP-6218-2025.DOC Needless to mention that, any steps in respect of the batch(es) of the Form-C can be taken and/or initiated only after receiving approval from the School Education Department of Government of Maharashtra. It is also noteworthy to point out that, prior to January, 2025, supplementary arrear bills were not only accepted offline but also verified offline and even submitted to Maharashtra Government Treasury in offline mode. However, since January, 2025, such process has been made completely online. 5. It is also necessary to point out that, each step of the mechanism elaborated above, takes atleast 7 to 15 days due to the voluminous nature of the bills to be processed as well as due to the fact that, verification of amounts as well as confirmation of documents has been provided for at each step of the way in respect of the payment of Supplementary Arrears Bills. 6. In the above backdrop and considering the fact that, the Petitioner's case falls under both the categories i.e. Regular Salary Bills as well as the Supplementary Arrears Bills, I state and submit that as under: a. as regards the Regular Salary Bills of the Petitioner is concerned, the same shall be duly processed by my office within a period of 1 month from the date of receipt of proposal from the New School in which such Petitioner has been absorbed. b. However, in regards to the Supplementary Arrear Bills of the Petitioner, a minimum of period of 3 months and a maximum period of 7 months would take to duly process the same as it is subject to multi-layer approval system as explained above. 7. In fact, it is relevant to highlight that, the office of the Director of Education (Secondary and Higher Secondary), Maharashtra State has addressed a letter dated May 12, 2026 to the offices of all the Deputy Shivgan 907- WP-6218-2025.DOC Directors, Education Officers as well as Education Inspectors and Superintendents, Pay & Provident Fund Unit (Primary/Secondary) providing Standard Operative Procedure ("SOP") to be adopted for submission of pending/arrear salary bills through Shalarth System for FY 2026-2027. The various step detailed in paragraph 4(b) above are covered in such SOP. Copy the aforesaid Letter dated May 12, 2026 is annexed and marked hereto as Exhibit “R-2”. 8. It is also relevant to highlight that, the Government Resolution dated July 15, 2017 also provides for the procedure to be followed while processing arrears bills which is annexed and marked hereto as Exhibit "R-3". 9. In the facts and circumstances as set out above, I state and submit that, the captioned Petition may be dealt with accordance of law by passing appropriate orders.” 5. In this view of the matter, we accept the statements as made by Mr Prashant Digraskar in an affidavit as an Undertaking to this Court. The same shall be strictly adhered to within the timeline as specified in the affidavit and all further necessary steps be taken in pursuance thereof. 6. In this view of the matter, further adjudication of the matter is not called for. The Writ Petition accordingly stands disposed of. No costs. (DR. NEELA GOKHALE, J.) (G. S. KULKARNI, J.) Shivgan SHAMBHAVI NILESH SHIVGAN Digitally signed by SHAMBHAVI NILESH SHIVGAN Date: 2026.09.01 20:15:18 +0530