MADHU SINHA Vs. STATE OF BIHAR AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE present writ application has been filed by the petitioner who is a doctor in the State Health Service which reflects a very sorry state of health of the Health Department, Government of Bihar. Apparently, a cancer has set in the said department and if not remedied timely, it will grow in proportion. Doctors and other employees are required by law and by superior to discharge their duty diligently but when it comes to the State responsibility in terms of timely payment of salary and other emoluments, the law is flagrantly violated by the State themselves. This case is an illustrative of one of the thousand such cases. The petitioner filed this writ application in 2006 making a grievance that for several periods starting from 1997, salary was not paid, the last of such period being 12.4.2001 to 30.6.2001. Now the petitioner informs this Court that all other dues have been cleared and with respect to the said last period, the counter affidavit states thus:

(2.) I may only mention that if a private individual employer in a commercial establishment would default in timely payment of salary, he would automatically be liable to prosecution under Payment of Wages Act but merely because the said Act does not cover the State Government, I do not think it does not give an authority to the State Government to delay payment of salary to their employees for any reason whatsoever. The reason for exemption from the provisions of Payment of Wages Act is that the Legislature thought that the Government would function in a non -arbitrary and non -discriminatory manner being a welfare Government and did not require the necessary regulation. The very premise on which the exemption or non -applicability of the said Act was based is bellied in such cases which are not few in number.