What Delhi Civic Body Boss Told Court Over Pending Salaries, Pensions

Delhi High Court was on Thursday informed by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) commissioner that the civic body had paid salaries and pensions to employees and retired staff members till December and the payment for January would be cleared soon. The MCD commissioner, who was asked to appear before the court following non-payment of salaries and pensions for the past few months, said they would be careful in the future.

He said all the employees, including Class III, Class IV and teachers had been paid till December.

A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad noted the submission made by MCD commissioner and listed the matter for further hearing after four weeks.

On January 30, the high court termed as "unfortunate" non-payment of salaries to MCD employees and pensioners and directed the civic body's commissioner and senior officers of the city government to appear before it.

It had noted that Class III and Class IV employees, teachers and other employees of the MCD were not paid salaries despite an assurance given to the court by the authorities from time to time.

The high court was earlier informed by advocates Ashok Agarwal and Utkarsh Kumar, representing petitioner teachers, that they had not been paid for two to three months and the inaction on the corporation's part was in violation of their fundamental right to livelihood.

It had noted in its order that on December 12, the counsel for Delhi government and the MCD had jointly stated that all payments would be released expeditiously but nothing had been done.

The court was hearing a batch of pleas relating to the non-payment of salaries and pensions to MCD employees and retired staff, respectively.

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