Compulsory donation to disaster relief not correct: HC
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Kochi: Kerala High Court on Thursday said that the state government's compulsory donation in the name of Salary Challenge is not correct. The court asked the government why it was gathering the list of people who did not donate their salary.
The court observed that donation for flood relief should be voluntary, and also questioned the propriety of issuing a confidential circular, in contravention of the Chief Secretary's order. The court reminded that even among the employees also there were those affected by the diaster and asked if there was a list of such staff.
Deduction of salary by force is not correct. The list was against the Advocate General's assurance. Publishing the names of those who did not donate salary would affect the unity of Malayalees. This is an internal matter of departments and it has a confidential nature. The court directed that the government should not disclose their names.
The court directed the government to inform the action taken against the officials who prepared the list of non-consenting employees. The case was adjourned until Tuesday.
On Wedesday, the government had informed the High Court that 1,15,000 employees had given their 'No consent' paper for one month's salary towards chief minister's disaster relief fund. Among the gazetted and non-gazetted employees, over 79% employees agreed to donate a months salary. While 85.4% of the Secretariat employees agreed to donate, 82.17% of private aided college employees filed 'No Consent' papers, the government informed.