Srinagar: The High Court of J&K and Ladakh Wednesday directed the Managing Director (MD) J&K Cements Limited to take immediate steps to release the salary of the employees of the company which was pending for several months.
Deciding on a plea filed by the aggrieved employees, a bench of Justice Sanjeev Kumar directed the MD to arrange the requisite funds to meet the liability.
For the same, the court said, the MD should approach the government or dispose of some assets of the company.
“The whole exercise culminating into the actual disbursement of the arrears of the salary whatever due to the petitioners (employees) should be completed within three months,” the court ordered.
The petition was filed in 2018 by the employees of the company seeking direction for the MD to pay them their monthly salary regularly and without any delay.
In their plea, the employees submitted that though they were performing their duties to the best satisfaction of the MD, for reasons best known to him, their monthly salary was not being disbursed regularly.
On November 19, 2018, the court directed the MD to ensure payment of monthly salary to the employees regularly. However, the Order of the Court was not complied with and the employees filed a contempt petition in 2021.
In the statement of facts filed on March 8, 2021, the officials had not denied that the salary of the employees for some months was pending.
“Because of the company having gone into losses, it is bereft of any funds to disburse the salary of the employees,” they said.
The MD had admitted that the salary of about 22 months of various employees of the company was still pending disbursement.
During the pendency of the petition, some of the employees retired on superannuation whereas others were adjusted by the government in different departments.
The counsel for the petitioners, Faizan Majid submitted that as far as the employees who were adjusted in various departments were concerned they were now receiving their salary regularly, and to that extent they had no grievance.
However, he submitted that the salary for some months when they were working in the company was still outstanding.
He submitted that such arrears of the salary were also payable to those employees who had now retired on superannuation.