The Delhi High Court on Tuesday remarked that the expenditure incurred by South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) on paying salaries of employees is abnormally high as compared to its functioning.
An HC Bench asked whether the biometric attendance of staff of the civic body was linked to their Aadhaar. “If you see your expenditure in comparison to others in the country or abroad, you are incurring abnormally high expenditure on salaries, which is not justified looking at your core functioning of sanitation. You need to see if you are overstaffed and paying salaries…,” the Bench said.
The court observed that when the corporation was not doing that much of sanitation and development work, how it could keep paying so much of salaries to employees. The counsel said the monthly expenses of SDMC include ₹214 crore for salaries and ₹30 crore for pensions.
The court also asked SDMC to comply with its earlier order to submit an affidavit on the steps taken to augment their resources and its financial position. Next hearing on August 11.