Shillong, Feb 2: Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC) is providing salaries to over 300 teachers from the council fund though the schools were taken over by the state government in 1993.
This was revealed in the special audit report on the accounts of JHADC from April 1, 2010 to March 31,2020 initiated by the Directorate of Local Fund Audit, Shillong.
The voters will elect new council members on February 21.
Under avoidable expenditure on education, the report said that while checking the Budget and other records of the Council it was detected that there are 327 teachers whose salaries are being borne out of the council fund.
“To this effect audit enquired from the Education Dept of the JHADC as to how many schools are still managed by the Council. In his replies the Education Officer mentioned that there are 153 teachers in 77 DCLP schools all over Jaintia Hills managed by the council and the rest 174 teachers are appointed and deployed to different government and private schools.
This resulted in the recurring expenditure on salaries to the teachers at an average of Rs 9.26 crore annually for the last 10 years which will be continuing in the future year and have created a huge burden on the council exchequer.
“This expenditure is avoidable since education is no longer the subject matter of the District Council because the Government has passed The Meghalaya (Taking Over The District Council Lower Primary Schools) Act, 1993, (As passed By The Meghalaya Legislative Assembly) notified in the Meghalaya Gazette vide No LI. (II). 130/92/103 Dated 2nd June, 1994 and subsequently came into force from the 2nd June 1994 vide Education Department Notification No.EDN. 130/93/123-A, Dated 24th August, 1994. (refer Annexure x)”, the report said.
The JHADC said the deployment of council teachers to government schools/deficit schools was carried out.
The Education Officer of JHADC in his reply to audit query stated that out of the 327 teachers employed by the Council, 174 of them are deployed in different government and private schools within the district.
Government and private or non -government schools are run and managed by the government and school managing committees respectively. Therefore, the appointment of teachers by JHADC in government schools and private/deficit schools having an independently elected Managing Committee is highly irregular, the report said.
