MbPT told to pay interest to staffer for withheld wages

Mumbai: The Bombay high court has directed the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) to give 7.5 per cent interest per annum to an employee whose salary had been withheld for 30 months. The MbPT had stopped releasing the salary of the employee because he refused to provide his Aadhaar card details.

A division bench of Justice Akil Kureshi and Justice S.J. Kathawala was hearing a petition filed by MbPT employee Ramesh Kurhade. Mr Kurhade had challenged a circular issued by the port trust on December 12, 2015.

According to the circular, employees need to submit their Aadhaar ca-rd number to MbPT, failing which their salary from the next month would not be processed.

The MbPT had granted three months time to employees. Mr Kurhade had objected the same and did not provide Aadhaar card number.

The petition was filed at a stage when the permissibility of linking of Aadhaar card details with various schemes and payments was under challenge before the Supreme Court.

Eventually, the Supreme Court delivered its judgment in case of K.S. Puttaswamy (Aadhaar).

After the judgment, MbPT also released Mr Kurhade’s salary, which was held for nearly for thirty months.

MbPT counsel argued that there was no clarity on Aadhaar card because petition was pending before the Supreme Court.

He had also argued that 800 employees had submitted their Aadhaar card numbers but not the petitioner.

The court in its order noted that MbPT failed to persuade bench for not giving interest to the petitioner. The bench while directing the authority to pay interest said,

“The respondents are not in a position to show any authority under which they could have withheld the salary of an employee simply because of pending petition before the Supreme Court.”