Following years of unpaid salaries, mounting retirement dues, and repeated warnings from both the state government and the judiciary, Maharashtra’s Directorate of Higher Education (DHE) on Thursday officially took over the management of seven permanently unaided colleges operated by the Sinhgad Technical Education Society (STES).
Issued on November 12 by Higher Education Director Shailendra Deolankar under Section 3(1) of the Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Management) Act, 1976, the order places the institutions under government control for a period of three years. The Pune divisional joint director of higher education has been appointed as the administrator to oversee daily operations on behalf of the directorate.
The intervention comes just two days after the Bombay High Court instructed higher and technical education authorities to take decisive legal action against defaulting educational trusts.
Institutions Brought Under Government Administration
The seven STES colleges affected by the takeover order are:
- Sinhgad College of Law, Ambegaon
- Sinhgad College of Science, Ambegaon
- Shrimati Kashibai Navale College of Education, Kusgaon (Lonavla)
- Nivrutti Babaji Navale College of Commerce and Science, Kusgaon (Lonavla)
- Sinhgad College of Arts and Commerce, Narhe
- Sinhgad College of Commerce, Kondhwa
- Shrimati Kashibai Navale College of Commerce, Erandwane
Severe Financial Distress and Ignored Directives
According to the DHE order, teaching and non-teaching staff across these colleges have endured prolonged irregular salary disbursements, withheld retirement benefits, and pending arrears under the Sixth and Seventh Pay Commissions. Taking grim note of the severe financial toll on staff, the department recorded that more than 13 employees died by suicide amid the ongoing crisis.
“Despite repeated directions from the department and the Bombay High Court, the STES management failed to clear employees’ pending salaries and retirement benefits,” Deolankar stated, emphasizing that the takeover was executed in the larger public interest to safeguard students’ academic futures.
Timeline of Non-Compliance
The state’s decision follows months of unheeded judicial and administrative warnings:
- July 17, 2025 & August 5, 2026: The Bombay High Court directed STES to clear pending salaries and retirement dues of petitioning staff members.
- September 2025 – April 2026: The Pune divisional joint director issued multiple compliance reminders to the trust.
- September – November 2026: Following formal hearings with trust representatives and staff in September, the directorate issued final directives on September 30 and November 4 to calculate and settle dues.
- November 3–5, 2026: Amid contempt proceedings, the Bombay High Court expressed strong displeasure over the society’s functioning. On November 5, the DHE served a show-cause notice warning of a potential takeover, to which the STES management failed to submit any response—prompting Thursday’s decisive intervention.
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