The Delhi High Court today ordered the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) to disburse February salary and 25 per cent of past arrears of 2016 to its workers to help them meet essential expenses, including paying their children's fees.
Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva initially issued the direction for payment of February salary, saying "if work was taken from them (workers), they have to be paid".
The court, thereafter, ordered payment of an additional 25 per cent of the arrears of salaries of September 2016 to December 2016 after the DCW employees said they were facing shortage of funds to pay the school fees.
The court on December 22 last had directed DCW to pay 50 per cent arrears of the salary of four months after 97 workers moved a plea claiming they were not paid since September 2016. These employees were appointed by DCW to work on various helplines and rehabilitation cells for women.
During arguments today, the office of the Lieutenant Governor (LG) opposed any further payments and wanted the court to wait for the report of a committee appointed to look into the legality of appointments made by DCW.
Central government standing counsel Anurag Ahluwalia, appearing for the LG's office, said the committee's report, which is likely to be ready by March 13, will have a solution to the entire problem.
The court did not accept the objections of the LG's office and said, "They (workers) have already undertaken work. The appointments may be illegal, but if you have taken work from them, they have to be paid. You cannot take pro-bono work from them. Not everyone is fortunate to have a bank balance."
Delhi government's standing counsel Rahul Mehra said the Secretary of Department of Women and Child Development (DWCD) should not be the Secretary of DCW, nor should she be a part of the committee set up by the LG, a point which DCW Chairperson Swati Maliwal has been raising in the past.
The court, however, refused to interfere with the set up of the panel and listed the matter for hearing on March 30.
Earlier in an affidavit, DCW had alleged that the LG's
office had "raked up" the issue of irregular appointments in the state women's panel to sidetrack the payment of salaries to people hired to work on various women's helplines.
It had contended that people were engaged on short-term contracts for three months to ensure that its various helplines, programmes and cells for women in distress continue to function till the Delhi government sanctions staff for the purpose.
The LG's office had claimed in its affidavit that Maliwal had "no power or authority to arbitrarily, unilaterally, unauthorisedly engage or appoint employees" in DCW and should have approached the competent authority if more manpower was needed.
It had also told the high court that Anti Corruption Branch of Delhi government was probing alleged irregularities in the recruitment process of the DCW on orders of a trial court. Maliwal has refuted the allegations.
