Court has asked civic bodies to draw up a scheme for paying salaries to all the staff.
The Delhi High Court asked the Delhi's municipal corporations on Monday to draw up a scheme for paying salaries out of the funds they have without picking or choosing one cadre of workers over another.
A bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad told the three corporations in the city that they should have a policy in place for equal disbursal of their funds among all cadres of their workers when their coffers run low.
The court was hearing pleas by various categories of MCD employees, including teachers and nurses, who claimed they have not been paid for several months.
Even pensioners of the three corporations have moved the high court claiming they have not received pensions from February this year.
During the hearing, the corporations contended that they have paid some categories of their workers, but are unable to pay everyone due to insufficiency of funds and because the Delhi government has not released to them all the funds required to be disbursed to them.
This contention was opposed by the Delhi government, represented by additional standing counsel Satyakam, which said that due to the COVID-19 pandemic its tax collection took a huge dive of 57 per cent and therefore, the share of its tax collection which goes to the corporations also took the same cut.
Satyakam also told the court that the Delhi government is yet to receive funds from the Centre out of the GST collection and therefore, it shall also be made a party in all the matters before the bench with regard to MCD employees salaries.
The court, thereafter, made the central government a party in the case and listed all the matters for hearing on November 5.