Solution soon on salary, appointment of DCW workers: HC told

The office of Lieutenant Governor today told the Delhi High Court that there could be a solution soon regarding the salary and appointment of employees hired by DCW itself, even as the commission alleged that its autonomy was being affected due to this issue.
Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva asked the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) to file a separate application for any grievance they have as the present petition was filed over non-payment of salary of workers engaged to work in various cells for women and listed the matter for hearing on January 24.
The court on December 22, 2016 had come to the aid of 62 DCW workers, including acid attack victims, who were not paid salary since September 2016, by directing the commission to disburse 50 per cent of their four months' arrears.

Today, the LG's office said the orders of the court have been complied with and amounts have been disbursed.
The December 22 order had came on the workers' plea, filed through advocate Amita Singh Kalkal, seeking a direction to DCW to disburse salary which had not been paid since September.
According to DCW and its Chairperson Swati Maliwal, represented by advocate Rajshekhar Rao, the cells in which the affected employees were working included the Rape Crisis Cell, Crisis Intervention Centre, Acid Watch and Rehabilitation Cell, Anti-trafficking and Rehabilitation Cell, Mahila Panchayats and Sahayogini programme.

The LG's office had said that prima facie investigation by the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) and other authorities, including the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), had showed that the appointments of the employees were not done as per the law.

During the last date of hearing, Maliwal had told the court that the employees were engaged as DCW was facing severe manpower shortage and the government had not met its staff requirements.
The petitioners have claimed that with their help DCW has dealt with 11,696 complaints since July 2015 and in view of the credible work being done by the commission with their help, the Delhi government transferred 181 helpline programme to them.
They have claimed that non-disbursement of their salary was a violation of the constitutional provisions.