Nainital, Jun 26 (PTI) The Uttarakhand High Court on Saturday asked the state government to convene a meeting of the cabinet to take a decision on roadways employees who have not received their salaries for the last five months.

Hearing a PIL by Roadways Employees United Council and Roadways Employees Union, a division bench comprising Chief Justice RS Chauhan and Justice Alok Kumar Verma asked Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat to convene a meeting of the state cabinet on Monday to take a call on the issue and inform the court on Tuesday.

Non-payment of salary is against the constitutional rights of the employees, the Chief Justice said.

The court also questioned the fairness of the cabinet overlooking the matter at its meeting on Friday where a decision on opening the chardham yatra for local pilgrims was taken.

"Why not stop the salaries of Finance and Tourism Secretaries of Uttarakhand until the roadways employees are paid their salary?" the court asked.

Chief Secretary Om Prakash, Finance Secretary Amit Negi, Tourism Secretary Ranjeet Sinha and MD Transport Corporation Abhishek Ruhila joined the hearing via video conference.

"If the roadways employees go on strike, they will be charged under Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA), hence they have no option but to come to the high court to demand their salary," the PIL said.

(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)