Jaipur: The Rajasthan High Court has come down heavily on the state government for its failure to clear wages of the employees of a municipal council for the past three years, resulting in the death of one of its workers allegedly due to starvation.
Holding the government guilty of mis-administration, Justice Mohammed Rafiq yesterday directed it to immediately release arrears of the salary, amounting to over Rs 65 lakh, of 30 employees of Rajkheda Municipal council in Dholpur district.
The court was hearing a petition filed by the employees
in 2008, who had alleged that their salaries, provident fund
and LIC instalments had not been paid for the last three
years.
Irked by the government counsel's argument that the
petitioners should have approached designated authorities
under the Payment of Wages Act within time, the court rapped
the government and said it is a case of malfunctioning of the
administration.
"One of the employees is alleged to have died and government is waiting for others to die. This reply of the government speaks volumes of maladministration. Such a reply cannot be appreciated and the conduct of the state authorities needs to be depreciated," the court observed.
It also took serious note of the state government's failure to file a reply of the petition in the last two years. "The government is directed to release special grant-in- aid for helping employees, if so required," the court ruled.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, March 15, 2012, 18:19