The High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday directed the State government to deposit ₹5 lakh as cost and recover this amount from the six erring officers, who have till today failed to pay the enhanced salary to a library assistant in a private aided school as was directed by the court way back in 2020.
The amount of cost could be recovered from the Secretary, Department of Primary and Secondary Education; the Director, Department of Public Libraries, and the Commissioner, the Director, the Deputy Director, and the Block Education Officer concerned of the Department of Public Instruction.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Prasanna B. Varale and Justice Krishna S. Dixit passed the interim order on a contempt of court petition filed by V.A. Nagamani, a 64-year-old retired library assistant.
The petitioner had said that a judge in October 2020 had directed the State government to pay her salary on a par with the salary of a library assistant working in public libraries as the court had on earlier occasions issued similar orders, passed in 2005 and 2011, in favour of more than 50 library assistants working in different schools.
The Bench took serious exception to the government’s conduct of not only not implementing the court’s order of 2020 but also seeking six more weeks to comply with the direction given three years ago.
