Payments: 500m rupees per month was the amount the judges directed the provincial finance department to pay KMC so that the salaries can be paid on time. PHOTO: FILE
SHC Chief Justice Mushir Alam was hearing petitions seeking payments of salaries to the workers of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC). He also directed the provincial law officer to convey the observation to the relevant authority.
Earlier, Sajjan Union and Advocate Nadeem Shaikh had gone to court over delays in payment of salaries to more than 50,000 employees of the KMC and the fire department. The judges have directed the deputy secretary of provincial finance department to continue payments of Rs500 million per month to the KMC since the payments were not running smoothly.
Meanwhile, deputy finance secretary Shakeel Ahmed and Advocate Shaikh insisted that the KMC and the district municipal corporations (DMC) were generating enough funds by letting out billboards and advertisement sites. They blamed the corporation for not keeping proper accounts.
The judges directed KMC’s lawyer Behzad Haider to file a detailed report on the recoveries made by the KMC. The petitioners also claimed that the post of KMC’s administrator and Karachi commissioner is being held by one person, who in fact has no authority. At this, the judges made the observation that an independent authority may be established.
The bench also directed all five DMCs of Karachi to deposit their share in their accounts to pay the workers. KMC’s lawyer complained that the share of the KMC and DMCs was fixed in 2002 to 2007, but the shares have not been revised since. The judges ordered the chief secretary examine these before the elections. The hearing was adjourned till April 17.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 29th, 2013.
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