Unpaid salaries: KMC passes the buck to provincial govt

The KMC workers’ Union had complained that employees and pensioners had not been paid for the past many months.

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Friday directed the provincial deputy finance secretary and Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) administrator to appear before the court along with a written explanation of non-compliance with the court’s repeated directions for timely payment of dues to serving and retired employees of the civic body.The bench, headed by Justice Ahmed Ali M. Sheikh, was hearing two identical petitions against unpaid salaries and pension to thousands of KMC employees. The KMC workers’ Sajjan Union had approached the court and complained that over 50,000 employees and pensioners were facing great difficulties as they haven’t been paid for the past many months. Behzad Haider, the lawyer representing KMC, passed the buck to the provincial government and said that grant meant for KMC had not been released and hence the body is unable to pay its dues, including salaries for May and June. The next hearing of the case is scheduled for July 22.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 5^th, 2013.