Kerala HC stays state's move to defer salaries of govt employees

Kochi (Kerala) [India], April 28 (ANI): Kerala High Court on Tuesday stayed for two months Kerala government's order, which deferred six days' salary of all state government employees for a period of five months from April 2020.
A bench of justice Bechu Kurian Thomas passed the interim order observing that financial difficulty cannot be grounds for the state government to defer the payment of salary and said that the move was not supported by any provision of the law.
"All over the world, the efforts of the state government are being lauded. Every nook and corner of the state is being taken care of by the government. Several crores of rupees are being spent by the state. However laudable and appreciable the acts of the state may be, when this court is called upon to decide a matter affecting the vested rights of citizens, the court cannot ignore the legal framework," the court observed.
"It is a vested right of every individual to receive a salary for the work discharged. Article 300A will include within its purview 'salary' also, as a property, at least prima facie. Kerala Financial Code is only dealing with the procedure for payment of salary," the court added.
The state government submitted that it has the power to defer the salaries.
The court, which was hearing a petition challenging the state government order to defer six-day salaries of all state government employees, said that it could not find any basis for such an order in any of the statutes.
"Neither in the Epidemic Diseases Act as amended by 2020 Ordinance, or in the Disaster Management Act could I seek solace to justify the issuance of the order," it added. (ANI)