Madras High Court directs BSNL to pay wages to its contract workers by the 15th of every month

The Madras High Court (HC) has directed Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) to pay wages to its contract workers by the 15th of every month.

The number of BSNL contract workers stands at about 4,500.

According to the court, in future, BSNL shall ensure that, whatever the workers or employees or contract employees are engaged through the contractors, the 30-day wage bill shall be claimed by the BSNL from such contractors on or before the 5th day of next calendar month.  On receipt of the bill, the workers shall be identified and the amount shall be quantified and accepted within five days thereafter and at any cost on or before the 15th of the next English calendar month, the previous month’s 30 days bill for each of the employees shall be settled directly to the employees/workers.

Further, the court said that if the BSNL has not disbursed the wage or salary within the said time, that amount would carry an interest of 6 per cent per annum for any such belated payment.

If the issue becomes unresolvable, it can be referred to the Labour Commissioner for adjudication, the court said.