India News | HC Warns NrDMC of Attaching Assets on Delay in Payment of Salaries, Pensions of Staff

New Delhi, Aug 26 (PTI) The Delhi High Court Thursday took North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NrDMC) to task for delay in payment of salaries and pensions to staff and warned it of ordering attachment of its assets and sale of properties.

The court also noted that the issue of whether the hospitals of NrDMC have to be handed over for management to the Centre or the Delhi government, as it is facing financial issues, has still not been considered by the civic body.

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A bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh said the corporation is not showing any sense of urgency which the issue demands and added that from now, it will not tolerate any delay in payment of salaries and pensions to the employees and retired staff.

“We have indicated to… (NrDMC advocate) that since the corporation is not exhibiting the sense of urgency with which the issue placed before us needs to be considered,” the bench said.

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It further said the court will not tolerate any delay in the payment of salaries and pensions “henceforth” and added that if there is any delay, it will not hesitate in ordering attachment of assets and sale of properties of NrDMC.

The high court had earlier directed the NrDMC to take a decision on the issue whether its six hospitals should be handed over to the Central or Delhi government.

Later, it was informed by Advocate Divya Prakash Pande, appearing for NrDMC, that the commissioner of the corporation took steps and the issue was pending before the corporators.

Pande said the proposal was earlier rejected by the House.

To this, the bench said the corporation can't have both ways that it will keep on insisting to retain the hospitals which could not generate any revenue but are source of expenditure for it and it will then say that it is running short of funds to pay salaries and pensions.

“From henceforth, whenever you will say you don't have funds, we know what we have to do. From next time, we are going to attach your properties and will start with attaching your commissioner's office,” the bench said.

The court was informed by the NrDMC counsel that pensions have been paid till June and salaries have been paid till July.

Senior advocate Rahul Mehra, representing Delhi government, said the second installment of grant-in-aid (GIA) and basic tax assignment (BTA) has been released to the three corporations.

However, Pande submitted that some of the remittance made by the Delhi government has not been credited yet and assured that as soon as the amount is credited, arrears of pensions for July will also be cleared.

Advocate Manu Chaturvedi, representing the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC), said they have paid salaries and pensions till July and there are no arrears.

The court had earlier directed South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) to file a status report disclosing its securities and assets as well as the details of income and expenditure from 2012 when the trifurcation of the city's municipal corporation took place.

The court was hearing a batch of petitions relating to non-payment of salaries and pensions to teachers, hospital staff, sanitation workers, engineers.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)