The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Thursday informed the Delhi High Court that it has paid salaries and pensions to employees and retired staff members till December last year and the payment for January would be cleared soon. MCD Commissioner Gyanesh Bharti, who was asked to appear before the court following non-payment of salaries and pensions for the past few months, told the Hight Court that the civic body would be careful in the future.
A Bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad, which was hearing a batch of pleas relating to non-payment of salaries and pensions to MCD employees and retired staff, took note of the submission made by MCD Commissioner Bharti and posted the case for further hearing after four weeks.
On January 30, the High Court termed the non-payment of salaries to MCD employees and pensioners as “unfortunate”, and directed the civic body’s commissioner and senior officers of the city government to appear before it. Meanwhile, the MCD releasing ₹730 crore towards paying the pending salaries and pensions up to December has brought “no joy” to the employees, with their unions stating that the move brings only a temporary relief.
A.P. Khan, convener of the Confederation of MCD Employees’ Unions (COMEU), said the larger issue is that of the civic body’s unstable financial situation, which has largely persisted due to the liabilities that were not cleared prior to the merger of the erstwhile municipal corporations last year.
“The unification brought no difference to the financial state of the MCD, which continues to struggle to disburse salaries and pensions every month. Unless the contractor liabilities and other dues are cleared, this hand-to-mouth situation will remain. “The Delhi government is giving its part of the fund, but this will be helpful only in paying salaries to a certain extent,” said Mr. Khan.
The MCD requires ₹774 crore to pay salaries and pensions every month to its employees across all categories. The civic body is currently working towards paying salaries for the month of January. Kuldeep Singh Khatri of Shikshak Nyay Manch Nagar Nigam, a union representing the teachers of the civic body, said the teachers are yet to receive their salaries even as they have resorted to wearing black bands for the last nine days in protest.
“Despite the announcement, we are yet to receive the salaries. This delay feels like a recurring headache,” said Mr. Khatri
Kuldeep Singh Khatri of Shikshak Nyay Manch Nagar Nigam), a union representing the teachers of the civic body, said the teachers are yet to receive their salaries even as they resorted to wearing black bands for the last nine days in protest. “Despite the announcement, we are yet to receive the salaries, this delay feels like a recurring headache. This is not a new issue, it existed before the merger, but can anyone point out as to how employees have benefited from the merger?” said Mr. Khatri.
Reacting to the observations, MCD’s Director for Press and Information Amit Kumar said the civic body is working towards improving its internal revenue collection, which is likely to see a growth in comparison to the previous financial years.
“We have also looked into curtailing our administrative expenditure, for instance, by going online with our services,” said Mr. Kumar.
