Indore (Madhya Pradesh): The Indore bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court on Monday ordered the liquidator to pay pending dues of closed down Hukumchand Mill workers on grounds on which they were partially paid in the year 2017.
The court said that documents were deposited to the liquidator’s office then only partial payments were made to workers of the mill in 2017.
The court added that payment should be made to workers after verifying same documents. The court assured that all eligible workers of Hukumchand Mill will get payment. The next hearing will be held on March 13.
The workers of Hukumchand Mill have been struggling for their dues since the mill was closed on December 12, 1991. After the pact between Madhya Pradesh Housing Board (MPHB) and the Municipal Corporation, the former had deposited Rs 217.85 crore in the account of the liquidator on December 20 last year. This amount is to be transferred to the account of the workers. For this, a three-member committee has been formed.
Labour leader Narendra Srivansh said that only 1400 workers have been paid in the last two months. The reason behind this is that the committee is asking for salary slips from the workers. ‘It has been more than 33 years since the mill closed down. It is not possible for workers to submit salary slips,’ he said.
Advocate Dheeraj Singh Pawar, appearing on behalf of the workers, told the court that in the year 2007, the workers' documents, salary slips etc had been deposited in the liquidator's office. ‘On the basis of these documents,
Rs 50 crore was paid to the workers in the year 2017. Not a single complaint of wrong payment was found at that time. Now the liquidators are again demanding documents and salary slips,’ he said.
