HC orders BEST to clear 30% of retiral dues in 3 months

Bombay HC orders BEST to clear 30% of ₹600 crore dues to retired employees. Court directs payment within 3 months, expresses displeasure over lack of seriousness.

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court has recently ordered the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking to clear at least 30% of the dues of its retired employees. The court was told that the civic undertaking has failed to clear retiral dues worth ₹600 crore.

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A division bench of justice Nitin Jamdar and justice MM Sathaye was hearing multiple petitions complaining about non-payment of retiral dues to individual employees. The court treated one petition filled by two former BEST employees as a representative petition after noticing that employees were getting their retirement benefits only after approaching either the labour court or the high court. “This not only results in hardship to the employees who have to spend money on litigation but also needlessly burdens the court,” the petitioners said.

When the group of petitions came up on board on May 9, 2024, the court was informed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) that it had given an amount of ₹200 crore to the undertaking. The court then asked BEST’s counsel how much of this amount would be earmarked towards the retirement dues.

The court was informed on Tuesday that a substantial part of the ₹200 crore received from BMC had already been spent on other commitments. The BEST counsel said that an amount of ₹1 crore or, at the most, ₹2 crore, could be disbursed to the retired employees. The undertaking also informed the court that the total dues of the retired employees are around ₹600 crore, adding that BEST was in severe financial difficulties and was unable to meet even its daily requirements.

“So, as against the liability of ₹600 crore towards retirement dues of the employees, what is being offered is only ₹1-2 crore to all of them,” the judges said, expressing utter displeasure over the lack of seriousness shown by both BEST and the BMC to payment of legitimate retiral dues.

“The BEST undertaking is not showing any commitment towards resolving the legitimate grievances of the retired employees, which poses a severe hardship for them,” the bench said. “It is unacceptable that the majority of retired employees of this undertaking are still waiting for their arrears of retiral dues without any commitment from the authorities,” it added.

The court has now directed BEST to calculate the unpaid dues of each of its retired employees as per the applicable law. After calculating the amount, the undertaking has been asked to pay 30% of the retiral dues of each retired employee within three months.

The bench has placed the responsibility of complying with the order on the general manager of BEST and granted liberty to the undertaking to seek financial assistance from BMC.