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Resolve funds issue, high court tells Delhi govt, civic body
New Delhi:
New Delhi:
The Delhi High Court on Monday asked the Delhi government and the North Delhi Municipal Corporation to solve the issue of release of funds for sanitation workers. It said depletion of the government’s revenue cannot be an answer for the lack of funds with municipal corporations to pay salaries to its staff.
A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan said a solution has to be found and listed the matter for hearing on August 10 on a plea by the corporation, which alleged that the Delhi government had not paid Rs 90.60 crore for the salaries of sanitation workers for the first quarter ending June 30.
The application, which was filed in a pending petition, also contended that Rs 181 crore for the second quarter (is also pending.
During the hearing, advocate Rahul Mehra, the Delhi government standing counsel (criminal), told the court that the government’s revenues were depleting but it would do the needful.
Salaries have been paid till May. June and July are pending.
The court said this cannot be an explanation and some solution had to be chalked out.
It asked both the parties to sit down and come to a solution and posted the matter for further hearing on August 10.
The North Delhi Municipal Corporation, in its application filed through advocate Mini Pushkarna, said the funding was meant for the payment of salaries of ‘safai karamchaaris’ and sanitation activities.
In its application, the corporation said it was bearing expenditure towards salaries till May 2020, sanitation services and providing PPE kits, gloves, masks, sanitisers to the workers from its own internal resources, in the absence of any amount being released by the Delhi government.
It claimed the Delhi government had not been releasing grant-in-aid payments timely under the category of health and released an amount of Rs 27.66 crore or May under health plan only on July 9.
It said the present liabilities of North DMC as on July 1 was Rs 4,757.18 crore, which included unpaid salaries, pensions, terminal benefits, arrears.
“Besides, there are monthly liabilities towards the salary of employees amounting to Rs 343 crore per month, with the annual liability towards the salary component alone being Rs 4,116 crore,” the plea read.
