Nainital DM okays Rs 1500 per month for sweeper couple despite HC order

DEHRADUN: Despite the Uttarakhand high court’s (HC) direction to fix the wages of a sweeper couple working in the Kaladhungi tehsil according to the recommendations of the 7th pay commission , the Nainital district magistrate ordered a hike of a meagre Rs 5/hour taking their total pay to around Rs 1,500/month.

The minimum wages fixed by the 7th pay commission for employees is Rs 18,000/month. The couple was being paid just Rs 1,200/month earlier for working three hours daily at the tehsil. The couple had approached the HC stating that though they work for just three hours on paper, their entire day is wasted as they have to stay back till the evening.

Speaking to TOI, the couple, Ramesh and Babita Valmiki, said that they were earning Rs 19 per hour for their work for years. “On papers we work around three hours every day. However, in reality we have to work for five to six hours still we earn just around Rs 1,200 in a month. This is far too less to sustain ourselves. Therefore, we approached the HC,” Ramesh said.

He added that he has been working at the tehsil for almost three decades while his wife has been a tehsil employee for 10 years. “I have been working at the tehsil since 1990 while my wife joined in 2010. In 2012, our salary was made Rs 19 per hour and since then it has remained the same even though workers in the other government departments earn far more,” he said.

Ganesh Kandpal, the lawyer who fought the couple’s case pro bono in the high court, said, “We approached the HC in April this year and on April 4, the HC passed an order directing the DM to pay the minimum wage to them. However, on June 17, the then DM passed an order increasing the salary from Rs 19 to just Rs 24 instead of making it Rs 18,000 as mandated by the 7th pay commission. This is in clear contempt of the HC order and now we have decided to file a contempt petition before the court.”

Nainital’s district magistrate Savin Bansal, however, told TOI that he was not aware of any such decision and that if any such order has been given by the high court it would be complied with. “I am not aware of the order yet. However, if the honourable high court has given an order in this regard, we will comply with it,” Bansal said.