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BMC restrained from paying bonus to civic workers

Expressing anguish over the role of the unions in the two-day strike from October 12 which resulted in non supply of water to citizens of Bombay, Justice B N Srikrishna and Justice Ranjana Desai delivered an ad-interim order on a petition questioning payment of higher salaries and bonus to municipal employees.

Counsel for Municipal Mazdoor Union and Maharashtra Karmachari Union J P Cama urged for a short time to file an affidavit and denied the role of the unions in switching off the water supply.

Accordingly, proceedings were adjourned for a day. D M Sukhthankar, former chief secretary to the Maharashtra government and a former municipal commissioner, filed the petition.

The judges berated the unions for holding the city to ransom and observed that they shall not allow any payment from the tax payers' money to the civic workers which BMC was not statutorily obliged to make to its employees.

Girish Kulkarni, counsel for intervenors, Bombay Grahak Panchayat, pleaded that the Maharashtra government had invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act which banned strikes while the civic body had obtained an injunction from an industrial court prohibiting strikes by its employees' unions. Yet, the unions had resorted to a strike, he argued.

BMC's counsel, C J Sawant, submitted that the civic body had moved the industrial court seeking contempt action against the unions. He submitted that the unions had disobeyed the order of the industrial court thereby inviting contempt action.

This prompted the high court judges to remark 'let the unions disobey our orders. We shall ask the commander-in-chief of the army to take over the civic services'.

Sukhthankar moved the high court on October 13 praying for urgent interim relief on his petition admitted in 1997, which challenged high salaries and bonus to civic employees.

Sukhthankar pleaded that the court restrain the BMC from paying ex-gratia until November 23 when his petition is finally heard and disposed off. As an alternative, he has prayed that civic employees be paid bonus of Rs 2500, which was equivalent to what the government staff was entitled to.

The petitioner contended that the civic body was not a commercial undertaking, which created a surplus. Collection of taxes from citizens was in lieu of civic services to be provided to them. The concept of bonus was alien to non-profit organisations.

Sukhthankar's counsel R D Soni urged that municipal employees were already paid higher salaries compared to their counterparts employed by commercial organisations.

For instance, he pointed out that sweepers in the BMC get a starting salary of Rs 5000. Therefore, the argument that civic employees were not well paid did not hold good on merits.

With the civic body spending over 65 per cent of its revenue on salaries and wages, only 35 per cent remained to be spent on civic amenities and infrastructure, he said. Hence, increase in wages and ex-gratia was not at all justified.

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