The majority of retired employees of Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) are still waiting for their dues. While hearing the case on May 10, the Bombay High Court (HC) said that this is "unacceptable".
The court further stated that the payment of dues is the right of former employees and is not a charitable contribution. Upon making this observation, the court ordered BEST Undertaking to settle 30% of each qualified retired employee's debt, which is about INR 180 crore of the total amount owed, within three months.
The high court declared that BEST Undertaking was free to apply for financial support from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), with whom it had an "intrinsic connection," and that the civic body would have to decide whether to grant the request.
These two Authorities will remember that retirement benefits are a legal entitlement of workers and that both of these Authorities must operate as role models for employers, the bench stated.
An order was passed in response to a series of pleas filed by former BEST Undertaking employees "in representative capacity," who claimed they were not receiving their gratuity or other terminal benefits. The division bench of Justices Nitin M. Jamdar and M. M. Sathaye made this decision.
The court observed that although the representatives of the employees met with the general manager of BEST Undertaking, there was no commitment made as of yet about the timeline for paying the outstanding balance.
A significant portion of the INR 200 crore that BMC had awarded BEST Undertaking has already been used for other obligations, the bench was informed.
The BEST Undertaking told the court that just INR 2 crore of the 600 crore in total due to retired employees can currently be given. The BEST Undertaking explained that it is unable to meet even its basic needs due to financial challenges. The bench did point out that since BMC had not argued that it was having financial issues, it was up to BEST to figure out how to release itself from liability in coordination with the civic body.
The bench said it is quite unfortunate that despite our directive, the BEST Undertaking and the Municipal Corporation have not given the situation any thought. It is quite difficult for the BEST Undertaking for them since they are not demonstrating any commitment to addressing the justifiable complaints of their retiring employees. We must order the required actions to be made to remedy the situation since we cannot ignore the hardship.
The court imposed a "time limit" of three months on the BEST undertaking and placed the responsibility of ensuring that at least thirty percent of retirement dues are paid in the allotted time on its general manager. Based on the manager's actions, the court will determine whether to grant BMC additional time or issue a one-time directive.
The court scheduled another hearing for August 9 to report on the order's compliance. It stated that in the next hearing more instructions regarding the deadline for paying the remaining 70% of the debt would be passed.
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