GHADC facing heavy financial crunch

SHILLONG: The Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) is facing financial crunch and this was brought to the notice of High Court of Meghalaya during a hearing on Monday.
When the matter related to the payment of retirement benefits to a former employee came up for hearing, the counsel for GHADC said,” The Council is going through a heavy financial crunch”.
Hence, GHADC sought six months’ time from the High Court to clear the retired employee’s dues.
The Council, in its submission in the court on Monday, said despite financial crunch, it is trying to clear the pending amount of the petitioner, Abdul Wahab Mollah.
Mollah – who retired on December 31, 2014, as Lot Mondol of the resettlement branch of the Council after attaining the age of superannuation – had approached the court asking the Council to expedite release of the gratuity and leave salary to the petitioner. The Council had told Mollah during retirement that the dues would be cleared in two equal installments.
The petitioner on several occasions had approached the respondents informing them about his plight but with no result.
During the hearing, counsel for the petitioner, S.A Sheikh, submitted that the petitioner has not received his service benefits amounting to Rs 4,29,390 and sought necessary direction from the court.
On the other hand, standing counsel for the respondents, in this case GHADC, S. Dey, submitted that the Council is making efforts to release the pensionary benefits and its has already released Rs 2,86,260 on November 1 last year.
The GHADC also issued order on December 2 last year to release the first installment of Rs 4,29,390.
The court, after considering the submission of the counsel for the GHADC, allowed five months’ time to clear the remaining benefits.