The Bombay High Court has ordered the CBI, Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax Department to investigate the financial affairs of the Sinhgad Technical Education Society and its founder Maruti Navale, after allegations of prolonged salary arrears and non-compliance with earlier court directions.
A division bench led by Justice Girish Kulkarni directed the agencies to examine the finances of 44 educational institutions operated by the society. The court also ordered that the bank accounts and movable and immovable assets of the institution and its trustees be frozen, according to a report by Civic Mirror – Pune.
The court further directed Navale, his wife, son, daughter and other directors of the institution to surrender their passports to the Deccan police station or the court. The individuals have also been ordered to appear at the Deccan police station every Friday. Navale has separately been served a contempt notice for allegedly failing to comply with earlier court orders.
The proceedings relate to claims that more than 6,000 teaching and non-teaching employees have not received their salaries for an extended period. The report refers to arrears of approximately 40 months, estimated at around Rs 1,000 crore, while also citing a court observation that some teachers had allegedly gone without pay for eight years. The supplied report does not explain the difference between these two periods.
The court questioned how the institutions continued to operate at full capacity while collecting fees from students, and what happened to those funds. It said the possibility of financial diversion could not be ruled out and noted what it described as serious discrepancies in the trustees’ assets and income-tax returns. The court also observed that the society appeared, at first sight, to have filed false affidavits, treating the matter as potentially criminal.
The case has also triggered intervention by education authorities. The School Education Department had earlier decided to withdraw recognition from 13 schools operated by the institution. The Technical Education Department appointed administrators for the relevant colleges. Those steps had been temporarily stayed after the society furnished a guarantee of Rs 60 crore, but the High Court has now withdrawn that interim protection.
Under the latest directions, authorities must take control of the 13 schools or shift their students to other schools. Administrators are to manage the technical education colleges, while action concerning higher education and other institutions is to proceed according to law.
The proceedings arose from around 220 writ petitions filed by employees seeking unpaid salaries and retirement benefits. The report also states that the court was informed that more than 10 employees had died by suicide amid financial distress linked to unpaid wages. The CBI, Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax Department are now expected to examine the society’s financial transactions and related records as directed by the court.
