MUMBAI, Aug. 16 -- The state education department has directed all government-aided and partially aided schools to upload and verify the original approval documents of teachers and non-teaching staff appointed between November 7, 2012, and November 18, 2016. The move is part of a large-scale verification drive in the wake of the Shalarth ID fraud, where fake teacher profiles were created on the government-run payments portal to siphon crores of rupees. During this four-year period, there was a ban on issuing new Shalarth IDs owing to a pause in teacher recruitments in the state. However, thousands of appointments were made under special circumstances through a provision allowed by law, largely in schools located in tribal areas, government-aided schools, and for specific subject teachers. The state suspects that some approvals granted during this time may have been based on backdated proposals, bypassing the ban. The state government has also decided to verify the documents of teachers appointed after the recruitment ban was lifted, between November 18, 2016, and July 7, 2025, amid allegations that irregularities occurred during this period as well. It has instructed schools to upload these original documents, including the Shalarth ID approval, appointment orders, personal approval numbers, and other related records, to the government's Shalarth Pay System 2.0 by August 30. Principals, education officers and divisional deputy directors have been tasked with verifying the submissions. The scam first came to light in the Nagpur division, where bogus approvals, fake Shalarth IDs, and fraudulent Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) certificates were uncovered. Criminal cases have been registered, and five people including senior education department officials have been arrested. On Thursday, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) arrested Neelesh Waghmare from Dhanteri near Nagpur. He was then head of the salary section in the Nagpur division, and had been absconding for 105 days. According to officials, the alleged scam involved the use of forged signatures and falsified documents to appoint teachers to vacant posts, in some cases leading to the wrongful disbursal of salaries. There is also suspicion of financial transactions linked to these appointments. Mahindra Ganpule, member of the Maharashtra State Principals' Association, welcomed the government's decision but raised concerns over the short deadline for schools....