The Bihar government today sought to defend itself in Supreme Court on the issue of non-payment of salaries to thousands of employees working with various undertakings of the state government.During the hearing of the issue before a bench comprising Chief Justice of India V.N. Khare, Justice S.B. Sinha and Justice A.R. Lakshmanan, Bihar government counsel Shanti Bhushan refused to take responsibility for the mess saying the undertakings were sick and winding up petitions had already been filed in the Patna High Court.‘‘Let the high court decide those winding up petitions. In any joint stock company, we are liable only to the extent we hold the shares,’’ Bhushan told the bench.The PIL, filed by one Kapila Hingorani alleged that over 1,000 employees have died due to non-payment of salaries and the state government was not doing the needful. It also sought action against the officials responsible for the situation.When Hingorani requested the Court to issue directions to the state government, the bench sought to know if the government undertakings could be treated as ‘‘state’’ within the meaning of Article 12. The Court gave the petitioner two-weeks time to produce precedents where such petitions were allowed and adjourned the hearing.Earlier, the Court had on September 23 issued notice to the Bihar government on the petition that cited news reports highlighting the plight of employees due to non-payment of salaries.Hingorani quoted in the report about one Chandan Bhattacharya, son of an employee of Bihar State Agro-Industries Development Corporation (BRSTC), who sought to immolate himself as his father had not received salary for nine years and due to that his mother and brother died as they could not get proper medical attention and food during illness.Official figures show that 88,572 employees engaged with 49 sick public undertakings and around 1.56 lakh persons employed in schools, madarsas and colleges were totally dependant on the government for their salaries she said in her petition.
