Govt bound by court order: Vijayan

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Thiruvananthapuram:29.04.2020

Reacting to the high court order staying his government’s decision to defer payment of a portion of employees’ salaries over the next five months, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the state is bound by the order of the court.

“The government would take necessary steps after a thorough examination of the order,” the CM said on Tuesday. A decision on filing an appeal against the single bench order would be taken after necessary deliberations, he said.

Meanwhile, finance minister Thomas Isaac said the government would consider its options for legal validation of its decision. “Now it has been said that it (setting aside salary) couldn’t be done through an executive order. Well, we would see what should be done to make the decision legally valid,” Isaac told reporters.

The HC order, Isaac said, reflected the “mental process” of some people in the state. “It’s indeed important to note that a few (people) are working overnight to thwart the unity and social capital of Kerala about which the whole world is talking about,” Isaac said. The minister said he would go into the details of the order after studying the same. “It’s unfortunate that a set of people are specializing in how not to cooperate with the government and how to weaken the fight against Covid-19,” Isaac added.

Meanwhile, opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said the court order was a body blow to the government for its failure to earn the trust of its employees. Former chief minister Oommen Chandy said the government should learn from the court order and start doing things in a democratic way. BJP state president K Surendran said the high court order once again proved that the state government was not doing things as per rules.