Procedural delays at top, distress at grassroots
Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, Jan 17: Thousands of teachers working in the School Education Department across Jammu Division have not been paid their salaries for the month of December, triggering widespread resentment and anxiety among the teaching community.
Follow the Daily Excelsior channel on WhatsApp
The delay has been attributed to the non-release of the revised budget for the financial year 2025–26, which, official sources said, is still under process at the departmental level.
Official sources told the Excelsior that the revised budget for Jammu Division could not be finalised and forwarded in time due to procedural delays at the Directorate and Secretariat levels.
Deficient projection in the B4 Budget (prior estimate) due to erroneous figures by the Directorate of School Education Jammu and then procedural delay at the Secretariat level by the competent authority in processing and submitting the revised budget, allegedly slowed down decision-making and the timely movement of files, resulting in the revised budget not being released till date, sources explained.
As a consequence, Drawing and Disbursing Officers (DDOs) in the Directorate of School Education Jammu have been unable to generate salary bills for December, leaving teaching staff—including regular Teachers, Masters, Lecturers and other cadres—without their monthly pay.
The delay has come at a particularly difficult time, as many employees were relying on their December salaries to meet year-end expenses and financial commitments.
Teachers’ associations have expressed strong resentment over the situation, terming it a result of administrative apathy. “Teachers are being made to suffer due to lapses at the higher administrative level. Salaries are not a favour but a right of employees, and such delays are unacceptable,” representatives of several unions said, warning of protests if the issue is not resolved immediately.
Officials in the finance wing of the department, however, maintained that the matter is under active consideration and assured that salaries would be released as soon as the revised budget is approved. “Once the revised budget for 2025–26 is cleared and conveyed, the process of releasing pending salaries will be expedited,” they said.
Pertinent to mention that estimating revenue and expenditure, departments submit projection of funds required for a financial year and on basis of the same, B4 Budget is approved by the Finance Department. If needed, departments can submit revised estimates in the month of November-December, which are reviewed and approved by the Finance Ministry.
For a revised budget, the procedures typically involve; identifying changes in revenue or expenditure that require a revision to the original budget, preparing revised estimates reflecting the changes and obtaining approval from the relevant authorities, such as the Finance Ministry.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
