Varanasi Teachers Say Salary Arrears Have Been Pending for Up to 17 Years

VARANASI: Teachers across several secondary schools in the district are waiting for arrears linked to selection grade, promotional grade and other service benefits, with one principal's claim said to have remained unpaid for 17 years.

Sudhanshu Shekhar Tripathi, president of the Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shikshak Sangh, raised the issue in a letter to the joint director of education and the district inspector of schools on Monday, Live Hindustan reported. He asked the authorities to call for all pending bills from schools and complete payment without further delay.

The longest example cited is that of Padmaja Sharma, principal of Durgacharan Girls' Inter College. Her arrears have allegedly been pending for 17 years. The representation also lists 17 teachers awaiting selection-grade arrears, apart from two teachers at Jagatpur Inter College whose position was described separately.

Four teachers at Kashi Krishak Inter College in Harhua, four at Khedan Lal Rashtriya Inter College in Chetganj and five women teachers at Arya Mahila Inter College in Chetganj were among the cases mentioned. The report does not provide the amount due to each employee or explain at which administrative desk every file is held.

Arrears accumulate when a benefit is approved from an earlier date but the revised amount is not paid with the regular salary. A file may require service-book verification, a management resolution, budget allocation and approval at more than one level. Each additional year increases the paperwork and makes retirement calculations, tax treatment and pension records harder to reconcile.

For an employee, the delay is not an abstract accounting issue. The unpaid sum may represent years of earned salary and can affect loans, family expenses and retirement planning. For the department, a 17-year pendency indicates that routine tracking has failed. A claim should not survive multiple transfers of officers without a recorded reason and a responsible desk.

The union has asked the DIOS to obtain every category of outstanding bill from district schools, a step that could create a single verified list. That list should show the employee, benefit, approval date, amount, present status and any document still required. Publishing aggregate numbers would also reveal whether the problem is isolated or systemic.

The claims in the union's representation still require administrative verification. But verification should produce a decision—payment, a reasoned objection or a request for a specific missing record—not another year of silence. After 17 years, “pending” is no longer a status; it is the story itself.