HC grants week’s time to govt to clear dues of court staff

The High Court of Karnataka on Thursday ordered that payment of arrears and dues of the high court employees should be completed within a week and asked the state government to give preference to the retired employees in this regard.

A division bench comprising of Justice B S Patil and Justice B V Nagarathna (over video conference from the Dharwad bench) was hearing a civil contempt petition
filed by Nijaguni M Karadigudda and the Karnataka High Court Employees’ Welfare Association, who have moved the court with regard to the non-compliance of the Supreme Court’s direction of extending the Central government pay scale to high court employees and non-payment of salaries for the months of April and May.

The state government counsel on Thursday had informed the court that the salaries for the months of April and May have been paid and sought for two weeks time to pay the arrears.

In response to this, the court said the payment of arrears has to be completed within a week.

The court also orally observed that it would dispose of the contempt petition after all the dues have been paid.