Inquiry on DCW will take 4 weeks: L-G’s office

New Delhi: The lieutenant-governor’s  office informed the Delhi high court that four weeks time was needed to wind up the inquiry into the legality of the appointments made by the Delhi Commission for Woman (DCW).

The L-G’s office has appointed a committee to look into the legality of the appointments and had on March 2 said that the panel’s report would be ready by March 13.

However, it said that the panel would need four more weeks to complete its inquiry and submit a report.

The submission was made when the lawyer representing several DCW employees, who have moved a plea claiming non-payment of wages, sought an early date of hearing in the matter which was not taken up on Thursday as the judge was not available. The employees’ plea was, thereafter, listed for hearing on April 28.

These employees were appointed by the DCW to work on various helplines and rehabilitation cells for women. On the last date of hearing, the court had ordered the DCW to disburse the salary of February and 25 per cent of past arrears of 2016 to its workers to help them meet essential expenses, including paying their children’s school fee. The court had said that “if work was taken from them (workers), they have to be paid”.

On December 22 last year, it had directed the DCW to pay 50 per cent salary arrears of four months, from September to December 2016, after 97 workers moved a plea claiming they had not been paid since September 2016.