Can't withhold salary for not linking Aadhaar: Court
A petition was filed by Ramesh Purale, working as a chargeman with the MbPT.
Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Monday has questioned the Union government’s decision of withholding the salary of a Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) employee since 2016 on the grounds that he had not linked his salary account with his Aadhaar card.
A division bench of justices A.S. Oka and S.K. Shinde while hearing a petition filed by Ramesh Purale, working as a chargeman with the MbPT, said his salary cannot be withheld over failure to link his bank account with his Aadhaar card. Mr Purale had challenged a letter issued to him by the Union ministry of shipping in Dece-mber 2015, asking him to link his bank account, in which his salary was being credited, with his Aadhaar card.
From July 2016, he stopped getting his salary following which he petitioned the HC. Earlier this month, Mr Purale filed an application in his petition where he relied on the apex court’s judgment of September 26 on the Aadhaar card issue.
The HC on Monday questioned the Centre as to how it could take such a stand that it would not give salary to its employees because their Aadhaar card is not linked to their salary accounts. “We have perused the apex court’s judgment. Prime facie, we are of the view that the petitioner’s salary cannot be withheld on the ground that there is failure to link Aadhaar card with the bank account,” Justice Oka said. The bench directed the government to pay the ar-rears to the petitioner and posted the petition for final hearing on January 8.