Delhi HC pulls up East MCD over non-payment of salaries to doctors, ‘shut shop if you can’t manage resources’

Pulling up the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) for not paying salaries to doctors and other frontline workers posted in its hospitals, the Delhi High Court Thursday termed it “shocking” and said the corporation needs to set its house in order.

“We cannot set your house in order. You will have to do it. We cannot be running the EDMC. Were you a private enterprise, we would have asked you to be wound up. If you can’t manage your resources, then shut shop,” the division bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Jasmeet Singh told the EDMC.

The court further told the EDMC that it has employed people who have families to take care of and asked whether only doctors have not been paid their salaries. “Two months is shocking,” said the court, while referring to the non-payment of salaries for the months of November and December.

Advocate Manu Chaturvedi, representing the EDMC, told the court that most employees, including engineers and other officers, have been paid salaries only till October 2021. Chaturvedi also submitted that sanitation workers have been paid till December 2021. He further told the court the corporation has been augmenting its revenue and reducing expenses.

The Delhi government told the court that the third and final instalment of funds has been released to the corporations and if anything is remaining, the same will be released in the next few days. “As far as this year is concerned, there is no reason why salaries should not be paid,” submitted senior advocate Rahul Mehra, representing the government.

The submissions were made during the hearing of a case related to the financial crunch being faced by corporations, and the issue of unpaid salaries of employees including health workers. The court will hear the matter next on February 28.