Calcutta HC expresses ire over pay structure of contractual employees in state govt

Kolkata, Dec 11 (IANS) A division bench of the Calcutta High Court on Monday expressed ire over the pay structure of the contractual employees of the West Bengal government.

The division bench of Justice T.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya observed that the tendency of passing the buck in case of government services is because of the poor pay structure of the contractual employees.

“With such a kind of pay structure of the contractual state government staff, what more one can expect from them,” the Chief Justice observed on Monday.

The division bench made this observation pertaining to a case regarding the difficulties faced by individuals for enrollment for Unique Disability Identity Card (UDID), a Union government initiative to create a national database for persons with disabilities (PWDs). Accordingly, a portal was introduced in 2017 through which the individuals concerned could enroll their names for the UDID. However, the state government in West Bengal opened a separate portal of its own for the enrollment purposes.

However, since then there had been rampant complaints in West Bengal that whenever someone was trying to enroll his or her name for UDID through the portal, the latter was showing them as already “enrolled", following which many faced problems in getting their UDISs.

A non-government organisation (NGO) filed a PIL in the matter and while hearing on the case at the division bench on Monday, the role of the contractual employees came under question from the Chief Justice.

“The doctors are not expected to do everything. Almost 80 per cent of the employees in state-run hospitals are contractual staff. They are entitled to a monthly allowance ranging between Rs 10,000 and Rs 12,000. What more can be expected from them,” the Chief Justice observed.

He also questioned the rationale behind the state government opening its own portal for that purpose since there is a central portal in the matter. He also questioned why the state government was not sharing the state figures with the central portal.

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