Notice to govts on consumer panel member’s salary duesJustice M S Ramesh issued notice to the central and state governments and adjourned the case to January 21 for further hearing.
Notice to govts on consumer panel member’s salary dues
TNN | Dec 24, 2019, 4:45 IST
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Madurai: Madras high court has issued notice to the central and state governments on a plea moved by a non-judicial member of the Tamil Nadu State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission (TNSCDRC) in Madurai seeking payments and salary dues pending since September last year.
In his petition, S M Murugeshan stated that he was appointed as whole-time non-judicial member of TNSCDRC on the circuit bench on Madurai district court premises in 2015. Based on a GO dated February 15, 2017, the honorarium and conveyance allowance were revised to Rs 17,250 and Rs 3,300 respectively.
He stated that Supreme Court had taken note of the fact that each state government is providing different conditions of service to state and district level members which had led to non-uniformity. The Supreme Court constituted a three-member committee to examine various aspects including the need to improve the infrastructure in the consumer forums across the country and to bring about uniformity in service conditions.
Subsequently, the Consumer Protection (Salary, Allowances and Conditions of Service of President and Members of the State Commission and District Commission) Rules, 2018 came into force on September 7, 2018. As per the rules, a member of the state commission shall be paid a remuneration equivalent to the pay scale of an additional secretary in the state government and a GO in this regard was issued by the state government. He further submitted that the rules also provide for the members to be entitled to house rent allowance and transport allowance.
He stated that though he had submitted his pay bills, they were returned without any justification. He claimed that he and another member were not paid remuneration since September 2018 though several representations were submitted. Since he has been working without remuneration, he moved the court’s Madurai bench seeking a direction to prepare the pay bill as per the 2018 Rules and to disburse the same along with allowances and arrears. Hearing the plea, Justice M S Ramesh issued notice to the central and state governments and adjourned the case to January 21 for further hearing.
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