CM silent on filing appeal

29/04/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
,THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday refused to reveal whether the State would file an appeal against the High Court’s stay on deducting the salary of government employees.

The High Court had put in abeyance, for two months, the controversial decision to defer the payment of six days’ salary every month from April to August to help the government tide over the financial crunch caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. Mr. Vijayan said the State was constitutionally bound to obey the decision of the court. Mr. Vijayan ignored the question whether the Law Department had let down the government by issuing an ambiguous order that had scant legal backing or precedence. Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala who had moved the High Court against the controversial order, said the arrogance of the government that it could arm-twist State employees into forsaking their pay had earned the opprobrium of the court.