The Madras High Court Bench here on Monday said that the Madurai Municipal Corporation cannot shirk of its responsibility in the matter of non-payment of wages to the tune of several lakh to 265 workers engaged, through contractors and sub-contractors, for laying storm water drains and culverts in the city.
Passing interim orders in a public interest litigation petition filed by the workers through their union, a Division Bench comprising Justice D. Murugesan and Justice S. Nagamuthu said: "In our opinion, the Corporation being an instrumentality of the State has the responsibility to ensure that the workers are paid their due wages."
The Judges recorded the principal contractor’s willingness to deposit Rs.30 lakh as an interim measure and directed the Superintending Engineer of the Corporation to disburse the amount to individual workers after conducting an enquiry on the number of working days. They also sought for a report on or before December 23.
The Mahabubnagar District Palamoori Migrant Labour Union based in Andhra Pradesh had claimed that 265 members of their union were not paid salary arrears of Rs.1.9 crore for having worked between September 11, 2008 and May 30, 2009. Of this, Rs.75 lakh was due towards regular work and the rest for having worked overtime.
On the other hand, counsel for the principal contractor stated that his client was ready to deposit Rs.27.73 lakh for immediate disbursement. As there was a dispute over the rest of the amount, he said that the matter could be referred to a mediation and conciliation where the labourers shall be represented by their agents.
Rejecting the suggestion of referring the matter for mediation, the judges said that the Corporation could settle the matter. On the Corporation counsel’s contention that only the contractor was liable to pay the arrears, Mr. Justice Murugesan said: "You are a State. You got some responsibility. You cannot behave like a private employer."
Terming it as a "highly unfair labour practice," the judge said: "The problem now is that nobody is ready to take responsibility." He said that the Corporation was throwing the blame on the principal contractor who in turn blamed the sub-contractors for not having paid the poor labourers, most of whom were present in the court.
Mr. Justice Nagamuthu said that there was no necessity for the labourers to have come to the court, along with their wives and children, thereby losing their income for the day. "Why did you ask them to come here? Do you think we do not understand their feelings and agony?" the judge asked their counsel.
