"Fed up": Delhi High Court says it will dissolve MCD if salaries, arrears of employees not paid

The Delhi High Court on Friday issued a stern warning to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) that it would be dissolved if its current and former employees are not paid their salaries, pensions and arrears as per the 7th Central Pay Commission's recommendations..A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora remarked that MCD is embroiled in a lot of litigation because of its corruption and inefficiency and that the Court was fed up of giving time to the municipal body to clear its dues.The Court said that if the MCD cannot set its house in order, then a new system will be evolved without this current municipal corporation.“We have done enough, we are not going to help you anymore now. You are mature people. If you don’t pay salaries to your employees and become financially viable, we will close you. The constitution has a provision for dissolving you, we will do that. You are inefficient people; you need to be told there is no space for you. You are only generating litigation for us because of your inefficiency and corruption. Either you set your house in order, if you can’t do that, then I think we need a new system and we will evolve a new system. There is a provision to dissolve you. We will do it. (If) you can’t find the resources, then we will evolve a new system,” the Court remarked..It took a dim view of the MCD, Delhi government and the Central government shifting the blame on each other for the municipality’s financial woes.“You [MCD] are saying the State government will pay. MCD is saying it will not pay, Centre will pay. These employees are your employees. They are not people held by terrorist groups that no one is ready to pay the ransom for. They will get their salaries. It is your statutory obligation. Earlier you [MCD and Delhi government] were not on the same page, now you are. Either you make it financially viable or we will dissolve you,” the Court reiterated..ACJ Manmohan also orally asked the Central government counsel present in the Court to consider issuing show cause notice under Section 490 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act.Section 490 deals with the dissolution of the corporation.However, as the Delhi government and MCD counsel said that one more opportunity may be given to them to resolve the issue, the Court eventually adjourned the case till March 28..The Court was dealing with a batch of petitions filed by the serving and former employees of the MCD demanding their salaries, pensions and arrears as per the recommendation of the 7th Pay Commission..Advocate Divya Prakash Pande appeared for the MCD and said that employees have been paid salaries till January and that February's salary will also be paid in a week.Pande said that after the unification of the three municipal corporations of the city, the civic body is in a much better shape and a policy decision has been taken that ₹15-20 crores will be taken out from the kitty every month to clear the arrears.The Delhi government and MCD counsel also suggested that the Court may consider ordering the State and municipal officials to hold a meeting to resolve the financial stress..However, the Court noted that it has been dealing with the case for nearly seven years and added that no such direction will be passed.The Court said that it is for the MCD to get out of the financial mess. Otherwise, the Court will make a recommendation to the Central government to wind up the municipal corporation, the bench said.“You fix a meeting on your own,” the Court added.It proceeded to adjourn the case. .Notably, this is not the first time that the MCD has faced the Court's ire for its failure to pay the employees' salaries. Even during the previous hearing of the matter on February 9, 2024, the Court had warned the MCD that the Court will wind it up if the salaries and arrears are not paid.