Retired secondary teachers in Calcutta and Howrah have to return over Rs 35 lakh to the state government, as they had overdrawn the amount while in service. Only after that will they be entitled to retirement benefits.
There are around 20,000 secondary teachers in the two cities, three per cent of whom retire every year.
While the All Bengal Teachers? Association and the West Bengal Headmasters? Association held school managing committees and district inspectors of schools responsible for the overdraw, the education department blamed ?politicised? teacher groups for the mess.
Officials said all retired teachers in secondary schools, who drew salaries according to a higher pay-scale for having a master?s degree, had to refund the excess amount to the treasury heads.
?It is not possible to scrutinise the actual amount a teacher is entitled to. Salary audit is conducted only at the time of disbursing pension. If the audit reveals that a teacher has overdrawn money, he will have to return it first,? school education minister Kanti Biswas said on Tuesday.
?A teacher should not draw anything extra,? the minister added.
He admitted that verification of the overdrawn amount made the post-retirement salary audit more complex and time-taking.
The directorate of pension-cum-provident fund and gratuity, the final authority to disburse pension and other post-retirement benefits to teachers, blamed an ?unholy nexus? between some school inspectors and teachers for the problem.
?The inspectors and managing committees should be more meticulous and law-abiding in allowing a higher pay scale to a teacher,? said All Bengal Teachers? Association general secretary Shibaprasad Mukherjee.
President of the West Bengal Headmasters? Association Prithwish Basu said the government had no right to claim refund from a retired teacher if he had availed of any benefit approved by the inspector.