Become financially viable or face dissolution: Delhi HC pulls up MCD over non-payment of salaries

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court pulled up the MCD on Friday over delayed payment of salaries to its employees and its failure to implement the seventh pay commission's recommendations, cautioning that it would direct dissolution of the civic body if it does not make itself financially viable.

Dealing with a batch of petitions concerning the non-payment of salaries and pensions by the corporation, a bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Manmohan questioned if an entity that is unable to pay its employees and pensioners can undertake any development work and favoured replacing the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) with a "better system".

"If you cannot pay salaries, you cannot implement (the) seventh pay commission, how are you expected to carry out development work? Which contractor will work for you? They cannot pay salaries, what development will they do," the court said.

The counsel for the MCD said the conditions have improved after the civic body's unification and salaries and pensions have been paid up to the month of January.

Noting that the present batch of cases filed by the employees and pensioners have been pending for seven years, the court said the MCD "cannot hold poor people to ransom" as the payment of their dues is not charity.

The court asked the MCD to pay the dues for the month of February within 10 days.

"You feel, as if this is some charity you are doing. These are statutory dues. Every month, they cannot come. You have to pay on time. It cannot linger like this," the bench, also comprising Justice Manmeet PS Arora, said.

"Make yourself financially viable. If you cannot, you have no business to stay. Some better system must emerge from this," the court said as it observed that the law has empowered the Centre to dissolve the MCD.

During the hearing, the court orally asked the Centre's counsel to take instructions on the aspect of issuance of a notice to the MCD in relation to any proposed dissolution.

It further said now that the Delhi government and the MCD are "on the same page", the financial affairs of the civic body must be put in order.

"There is a little bit of arm-twisting going on. You say you will not pay, the Centre must pay. These are not people held by some terrorist group," the court told the Delhi government's counsel.

The MCD's counsel suggested that the court direct a meeting of the stakeholders to iron out the disputes.

Retorting that 'it has done enough', the bench asked the civic body to 'fix a meeting on your own' and granted it time to resolve the issue of payment of arrears of the seventh pay commission to its employees.

"Either settle your disputes or we will have to tell the Centre that you need to be dissolved. If you are not willing to set your house in order, we will close the house," the court cautioned the MCD.

"Inefficient people need to be told that there is no scope for them. You generate litigation because of your inefficiency and corruption," the bench said.