SDMC spending too much on salaries, says Delhi high court

The court said when the corporation was not doing much of sanitation and development work, how it could keep paying so much salaries to its employees.

The Delhi high court on Tuesday expressed displeasure on the “abnormally” high salaries drawn by the employees of South Delhi Municipal Corporation “sitting at home”, and said that the civic body should explore the use of technology to track the employees, including geo-tagging.

A bench of justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh asked whether the civic body implemented the biometric attendance system and if it was linked to the staff Aadhaar cards. (File Photo)

A bench of justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh asked whether the civic body implemented the biometric attendance system and if it was linked to the staff Aadhaar cards.

The court said when the corporation was not doing much of sanitation and development work, how it could keep paying so much salaries to its employees. “We have all heard of those employees in the corporation… People are sitting at home and drawing salaries…Is biometric attendance system implemented in MCDs? Have you linked it with their Aadhaar? Is geo-tagging being done to track their locations,” the bench said.

The court’s remarks came on a plea by the SDMC, seeking release of money by the Delhi government for paying salaries to its staff.

SDMC counsel Divya Prakash Pande told the court that the civic body has biometric attendance system, and added that he will find out if it is attached to the Aadhaar cards of the employees.

When Pande told the court that the monthly expenses of SDMC include ₹214 crore for salaries and ₹30 crore for pensions, the court said the civic body was incurring abnormally high expenditure on salaries which is not justified as their core job is sanitation. “You need to see if you are overstaffed and paying salaries…,” the bench said.

The SDMC counsel said that they were reviewing if they were overstaffed.

Senior advocate Rahul Mehra, representing the Delhi government, objected to the SDMC application saying the corporation cannot move two forums for the same remedy as the civic body’s similar plea is also pending before a single judge of the Delhi high court.