Karnataka HC Dharwad bench tells Union, State to pay gratuity to retired clerk of medical college
Fixes amount with 10% interest; fine for delay after court order
Dharwad: The Dharwad bench of the Karnataka High Court has directed the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Karnataka Department of Health and Family Welfare to pay a retired person the gratuity amount of about Rs. 4.1 lakh, inclusive of 10 per cent interest.
Babu, a native of Belagavi, who had been employed as First Division Clerk (FDA) at the post Postnatal Center of the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College in 1973 and, after working at the center for 34 years, retired March 31, 2007. He had filed a petition in court for the payment of his gratuity.
The High Court bench warned during the hearing that, if the concerned authorities failed to pay the applicant the said amount within 10 days of the court order, they would have to pay him late fees as well, at the rate of Rs 1,000 a day, for every day between the court order and payment of the gratuity amount.
The bench reminded that employers had no authority to hold back from paying the gratuity to retired employees. The applicant was employed by the secretary of the Karnataka Department of Health and Family Welfare, but has had to wait for 16 years to get his gratuity from the government. This only shows the disinterest of the government regarding the welfare of the people, the bench added, censuring the authorities.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
