Delhi High Court: All Sanitation Workers Must Be Paid by Monday

A division bench said it the matter would be heard on Monday and salaries must be paid in the interim.

MCD workers cleaning up the garbage. (Photo: PTI)

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday said it would ensure that all the sanitation workers received their salaries and asked the civic bodies to provide it with a list of those yet to get their pay.

A division bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath said it would hear the matter on Monday, and till then salaries must be paid to sanitation workers. It also said that in the future, the civic bodies and Delhi government have to ensure that sanitation workers’ salaries are not held back.

During the hearing, some sanitation workers unions told the court that till date, some employees had not received their salaries. Petitioners also told the court that despite getting salaries, many sanitation workers were still on strike.

The court made it clear that if salaries had been released by the civic bodies and sanitation workers were not reporting to duty, it would decide on declaring the strike “illegal”.

Civic agencies told the court that salaries had been released on February 8 and would be available in employees’ bank accounts by February 10 or 11, as the process takes time.

The employees of Delhi’s three main civic bodies had been protesting over the non-payment of salaries for the past few months, directing their ire at both the Delhi and the Central Governments. However, after the court’s intervention, unions agreed to call off the strike.