Unpaid salaries: Finance dept to put KMC money in high court

The SHC nazir would transfer money to the municipality to pay salaries on time.

KARACHI: The finance department has been directed by the Sindh High Court (SHC) to deposit the monthly budget for Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) into the court so that the salaries could be paid on time.

On Tuesday, an SHC bench - headed by Chief Justice Mushir Alam - told the provincial deputy secretary for finance to deposit Rs500 million worth of grant-in-aid to the SHC nazir before the 10th of every month. “Any violation of this order would be deemed as contempt of the court,” warned Chief Justice Alam.

He was hearing a petition filed by KMC workers union Sajjan against the metropolitan corporation and the fire department for failing to pay over 50,000 of its employees their salaries and pensions. “Thousands of KMC employees, including the fire brigade department staff, have not been paid salaries for the last two to three months,” the union claimed in the petition.

Even though, chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah had made an announcement that the provincial government would release Rs850.21 million every month, the Sindh government has yet to release any amount for the past two to three months “without assigning any reason”, the petitioner stated. They asked the court direct the authorities ensure prompt payments.



At the last hearing, the court had directed the provincial finance department to ensure that the grant-in-aid amount was paid regularly to KMC on or before the 10th of every month. However, the union lawyer, Nadeem Sheikh, informed the bench on Tuesday that the amount was not being paid despite court orders.

Meanwhile, additional advocate general Miran Muhammad Shah pointed out that the provincial chief secretary recently discussed this issue with the KMC. He assured to provide records on the progress made at this end.

Nevertheless, the bench directed the deputy finance secretary to despite Rs500 million with the court’s nazir. It further ordered that this month’s instalment should also be deposited within seven days, which would be transmitted to the respective accounts of the KMC and the district municipal corporations to disburse.

Sanitation conditions

The court also summoned the KMC’s senior director sanitation to explain why garbage heaps were piling up and cleanliness conditions were not being improved in the entire city. The court also called a list of the sanitation vehicles and sanitation staff available in each district of the city.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 18^th, 2013.