Maharashtra launches audit to end fake staffing, streamline school salary payments

The Maharashtra school education department has initiated a data verification drive to streamline staffing records and ensure financial accountability across government and aided schools.

As part of the effort, all sanctioned teaching and non-teaching posts will be mapped against salary records stored in the state’s official payment platform, the ‘Shalarth’ portal.

The process is expected to be completed by the end of June 2025.

According to department officials, the mapping will match sanctioned posts listed in the ‘Sanction Structure’ with actual salary disbursements.

The move is aimed at eliminating payments made to unauthorized or fictitious staff members and ensuring that government funds are directed only toward valid appointments.

Schools that fail to submit accurate data on time may face salary suspensions for their staff.

On May 12, official instructions were issued to all government, fully aided, and partially aided secondary schools to begin the mapping process.

School principals and heads have been made directly responsible for submitting correct data.

The exercise will use an API developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) to verify consistency between the Sanction Structure and the Shalarth portal.

A recent circular from the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education states that schools will be restricted from processing salaries for posts beyond the highest sanctioned level.

Technical changes are being made to the Shalarth system to enforce this limit.

Higher secondary schools have also been directed to upload a PDF version of their sanction structure mapping before processing July salaries in August.

Failure to comply will result in a halt to salary disbursements, the department has warned.

The initiative is part of a broader effort by the state to bring greater transparency to school administration, curb politically motivated appointments, and prevent misuse of public funds.

“We are taking a data-driven approach to ensure that only legitimate employees are drawing salaries from government funds. The mapping of posts and salary systems will bring transparency and accountability at every level. Schools must cooperate fully; this is not just a financial audit, it’s a structural reform,” said a senior education officer on condition of anonymity.