Delhi’s civic body will pay old salaries to contractual staff

NEW DELHI: The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) on Friday said it will go back to the pre-august wages, which was hiked by 37% by the Delhi government i n March. The government’s notification of salary hike was later quashed by the high court leading to the corporation slashing salaries of its contractual employees last month, the but the notification was quashed by the high court last month.

The municipality on Friday said it will continue to give the same salaries and not go back to the old pay structure like many private companies have done since this month.

The Delhi government in March this year had hiked the basic minimum wage for unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled workers. The decision to hike wages was, however, quashed by the high court which said that the government had notified it in a “hurry”.

The SDMC’S decision to keep the salaries intact came after several councillors raised the issue during the civic body’s standing committee meeting on Friday.

Kamaljeet Sehrawat, SDMC’S leader of house said, “It has affected 10,000 contractual employees engaged in different departments. They are feeling discouraged. Considering they are working with us for the last many years, it is our responsibility to provide them with a salary that is enough to support their livelihood.” After a brief discussion, standing committee chairperson Shikha Rai and commissioner Puneet Goel agreed to release the salary to the contract staff by issuing fresh orders.

On Wednesday, the labour department of Delhi Government had moved a special leave petition in Supreme Court against the high court’s decision to quash its notification. The state government is also planning to adopt the Centre’s revised minimum wages, which are even higher than the revised minimum wages proposed by Delhi Government in March this year.

SDMC’S standing committee chairperson Shikha Rai said, “The salaries were reduced last month because we were under the impression that a notification to go back to the old pay scale was issued by the Delhi government after the high court ‘s order. But we checked and found that no such directions were issued.”

As per the decision , the salary of unskilled staff will continue to be R 13,584 per month (including dearness allowance) instead of the revised salary of ₹10,270 (including dearness allowance). The figure in respect of semiskilled staff will be ₹14,698 instead ₹11, 362 per month and in respect of skilled staff will be ₹16,468 in place of ₹12, 506 per month.

ON WEDNESDAY, THE DELHI GOVT MOVED A PETITION IN SC AGAINST HC’S DECISION TO QUASH ITS NOTIFICATION