Pained to see MCD staffers seeking court’s help to get salaries, says high court

The Delhi high court on Thursday slammed both the Delhi government and the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NrDMC) for their failure to pay salaries and pensions to employees/pensioners and said it was “pained” to see employees approaching courts to get their salaries

The Delhi high court on Thursday slammed both the Delhi government and the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NrDMC) for their failure to pay salaries and pensions to employees/pensioners and said it was “pained” to see employees approaching courts to get their salaries. The high court also directed the Delhi government to pay ₹293 crore that is due to the NrDMC within 10 days.

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“We are pained to see such people (employees and pensioners) coming to courts. They need to have a lawyer just to tell us that they are not being paid. You are doing your job but we are pained by the callousness. It’s shocking,” the court told the North Delhi Municipal Corporation.

The court was hearing a clutch of petitions relating to non-payment of salaries and pensions to teachers, hospital staff, sanitation workers and engineers.

It observed that corporations are meant to not only pay employee salaries but also make the city “world class” as well as manage health issues such as dengue, chikungunya and malaria.

A bench of justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh also ordered the Delhi government to disburse ₹293 crore to the NrDMC within 10 days, for the payment of salaries and pensions, which is due to the civic body towards the second and third quarter of GIA and basic tax assignment (BTA).

The court remarked that there is “corruption everywhere”, both in the corporation as well as the Delhi government.

“Let’s agree that people are sitting in a cosy environment. Your government is no better. Not just the corporate, there is corruption everywhere. We would want officers to act with responsibility. Tell us the money that you are incurring on advertisements,” the court told the Delhi government.

Senior advocate Rahul Mehra, appearing for the Delhi government, said it was not the responsibility of the government to ensure that civic body employees are paid salaries. He said advertisements given in newspapers are for dissemination of important and meaningful information.

To this, the court said, “Advertisements with a political push do not indicate meaningful advertisement. When you say that you are short of funds to give to the corporation, you are also not behaving in a prudent or responsible manner.”

The bench also came down heavily on the NrDMC for its insistence to run its six hospitals, despite not having the resources to do so.

“You are very possessive about running your hospitals…but we can’t have a situation where on one hand, NrDMC is not able to meet its primary obligation of paying salaries and pensions, and on the other hand, it is insisting on retaining and running hospitals, which could not generate any revenue and are source of expenditure.”

It said a decision has to be taken by the corporation as to whether the hospitals could be taken over by the Centre or the Delhi government.

“If NrDMC continues to enjoy the luxury of running and maintaining municipal hospitals causing strain on its resources, it cannot be at the expense of salaries and pensions of employees and it may be necessary that the financial burden on account of lack of resources is borne by the elected representatives of the corporation,” the bench said, directing the NrDMC commissioner to file an affidavit within two weeks with all disclosures.

The bench also asked the SDMC and EDMC, represented through advocate Manu Chaturvedi, to take similar steps to augment their resources, as being done by NrDMC, and file their respective affidavits detailing the steps taken.