India, Nov. 3 -- The state school education department has flagged as many as 9,509 employees working beyond the sanctioned staffing strength in 3,625 schools across Maharashtra during a review of its Shalarth salary management system, raising questions over how these appointments were made without corresponding staffing approvals. So much so that the discrepancies have prompted the department to seek explanations from the concerned education officers and initiate a verification of employee records, sanctioned posts and salary approvals to prevent irregularities in the payment system.

Secondary and higher secondary education director Mahesh Palkar said that the department is scrutinising discrepancies in employee records and staffing app...