Government defaulting on promised dues to staff: Advocates

Senior Counsel V Prakash contended that it was not a flash strike as it has been made out to be and submitted papers to substantiate his claim that proper notice had been issued. He also submitted that there has been a complete distortion of facts that the unions had resorted to the strike for a nominal demand of Rs600, while the facts were entirely different.

Advocate N G R Prasad and others highlighted that the strike was not just owing to the salary but also due to gross breach of statutory duty by the government. He said the State owed over Rs 5,000 crore to its existing employees and overRs 1,000 crore to retired employees and those amounts were all deducted from the staff salary as Provident Fund, LIC and so on.

Another advocate, C K Chandrasekhar, appearing for the retired employees, said if a private company had defaulted such statutory payments the penal provisions would have been severe. He said the High Court was seized of this issue and eight months have lapsed since the government had agreed to pay the money due to the retired employees in three instalments. But it has been defaulting on even the undertaking given to the court.