MUMBAI, Aug. 24 -- The Bombay High Court on Thursday held that salaries of teachers cannot be withheld for refusing to open an account in the National Pension Scheme (NPS). It observed that Article 21 of Constitution, which guarantees right to livelihood as an integral part of right to life, cannot be subjected to individual whims of persons in authority. "The management having availed the petitioners' services cannot be permitted to decline salaries to them. This is nothing but exploitation amounting to depriving a person of his/her right to livelihood," a division bench of Justices GS Kulkarni and Dr Neela Gokhale said. The court was hearing a petition filed by three primary school teachers of a school run by Dahanu Panchayat Samiti at Palghar, whose salaries were withheld from July 2022 after they refused to apply for NPS. Advocate Vinod Sangvikar, appearing for the teachers, informed the court that after receiving the petition notice, the authorities disbursed the petitioners' salaries after deducting 10% of the amount. Taking note of this, the bench directed the authorities to disburse outstanding salaries to the petitioners within 10 days with an interest of 12% on the amounts withheld from July 2022 till payout date....