The Odisha exchequer is to be burdened with at least Rs 7,000 crore additional expenditure if the Supreme Court’s ruling on ‘equal pay for equal work’ is implemented in the State, experts saiy
The apex court on October 27 reiterated that ‘equal pay for equal work’ is a Constitutional principle and is needed to be made applicable to those engaged as daily wagers and contractual employees, who perform the same duty as the regulars.
With this verdict, around 2 lakh temporary and contractual employees in the Odisha Government are hopeful of getting salaries at par with their regular counterparts.
legal experts say the SC ruling on ‘equal pay for equal work’ is applicable across the country under Articles 141 and 142 of the Constitution and should be implemented in Odisha like Punjab and Haryana.
The Odisha Government has made all the new appointments in Classes 2, 3 and 4 on a contractual basis. Besides, there are other appointments like NMR, DlR, Work Charged, job contract and Adhoc that are purely on temporary basis. Even, several schoolteachers are appointed on contract basis.
While the regular and permanent employees working in various departments of the Government are enjoying different facilities including medical aid, pension, gratuity, PF and Government quarters during their job periods, the employees appointed on contract and temporary basis are deprived of these facilities. Sources said they draw less than 1/3rd of their salaries as compared to the regular employees.
With the apex court’s ruling, the contractual employees are now waiting for the next move that the State Government would take.