Nagpur: The Maharashtra govt on Tuesday informed the Nagpur bench of Bombay high court that more than 99% of appointments linked to the alleged Shalarth ID scam are under suspicion. Govt stated that only five teachers’ valid records were found, while documents for 632 teachers and non-teaching staff remain untraceable.The affidavit filed by the Deputy Director of Education through senior counsel and govt pleader Deven Chauhan, assisted by additional govt pleader Sangita Jachak, raised serious questions over the legitimacy of these appointments.The matter was heard by a division bench of Justices Mukulika Jawalkar and Nandesh Deshpande. The bench was dealing with around 84 petitions filed by more than 800 teachers seeking release of their stalled salaries. The court adjourned the matter to April 2 and directed the state to submit a detailed chart of show-cause notices issued to those allegedly linked to the Shalarth ID irregularities.The govt maintained that the appointments under investigation were not made in accordance with prescribed statutory procedures, and that mandatory requirements under service rules and govt resolutions were not followed. It further submitted that Shalarth IDs generated based on such appointments are “invalid”. “Since the appointments are not legally established, govt has no authority to disburse salary,” the affidavit stated.Detailing the findings of the inquiry, the state said probe revealed large-scale irregularities in generation of Shalarth IDs, including approvals issued without official sanctions or records. The affidavit noted that such IDs were created “without any valid offline orders or approval proposals,” often in collusion at institutional levels, bypassing established procedures.The state further told the court that the inquiry is ongoing and that the number of suspect appointments could go beyond 632. It added that responsibility, if any, for payment of salaries in such cases would lie with the respective school managements, not the govt.Speaking on the developments, Jachak told TOI that similar patterns of irregularities have been detected in other parts of the state. “A similar scam was noticed at Nashik and Dombivli, and SITs have been constituted to trace the culprits,” she said.The state earlier challenged an interim order of Nagpur bench, directing payment of salaries to around 600 teachers, before the Supreme Court. The state argued that disbursing salaries during an ongoing probe could impose a financial burden of 65 crore on the exchequer.The delay in implementing the interim order led to the filing of around 40 contempt petitions. The apex court has since directed that all related petitions be decided within four months.The dispute originates from approximately 86 writ petitions challenging a departmental note dated May 3, 2025, and a joint communication issued on April 29, 2025, by education authorities, which sought verification of appointment records of teachers linked to the Shalarth system used for salary processing in govt-aided schools across Maharashtra.
