In a bid to ‘embezzle’ the salaries of teaching staff, Head Clerk of a Government School after withdrawing the salary from the treasury office deposited it in the personal bank account of his son in North Kashmir’s Pattan town of Barmaulla district.
The police registered the case against the accused clerk and Principal of the school after the teaching staff alleged that clerk had committed the fraud in full knowledge of the Principal, an allegation refuted by the Principal Government Boys High School Devar Parihaspora Pattan. Confirming it to CNS, Station House Officer Pattan Mir Saleem said that police have seized the official records of the school and it has sought bank statement of the son the head clerk from the Bank Manager.
The teaching staff told CNS that they used to get salary in the first week of every month but didn’t receive the salary for the month of April after the head clerk informed them that due to financial crunch government has not released salary this month. “We didn’t react with a hope that we would get the salary next month. We felt something fishy after we came to know that Principal of the School has received her salary,” said the group of teachers.
The teachers said that they approached treasury officer who informed them that head clerk has already withdrawn their salaries. “The Treasury Officer Pattan showed us the salary receipts that were duly signed by the Principal of the school. When we brought the issue into the notice of the Principal, she advised us to maintain silence. We approached Police Station and it shocked us when we came to know that head clerk had deposited our salaries (Rs one lack ninety thousand) in the personal bank account (SB-8379) of his son at Singhpora Branch of Jammu and Kashmir Bank,” they said.“Surprisingly, the Principal on Saturday withdrew cash from her personal bank account and paid us our salaries. She wanted us to withdraw the complaint against her from police station,” the teachers said adding that they did not oblige and they hope that police will investigate the matter thoroughly and initiate action against the cheaters.It’s not my fault. It was not in my knowledge that staff had not received the salary,” Principal Government Boys High School Devar told CNS.