Government jobs should be contractual to improve accountability, says Justice B V Nagarathna

NEW DELHI: Supreme Court judge Justice B V Nagarathna has raised concerns over the accountability and efficiency of government employees, suggesting that government jobs should be offered on a contractual basis to improve work performance. The observations came while the Supreme Court was hearing a petition related to the non-payment of dearness allowance (DA) to Punjab government employees. The case was heard by a bench comprising Justice B V Nagarathna and Justice R Mahadevan.

Justice Nagarathna criticised the slow pace of work and the attitude of employees in government offices. Referring to instances where employees type only three pages in a day, she questioned their work efficiency. The bench also observed that many employees prefer moving to government secretariats rather than continuing in High Courts and district courts, as the workload in secretariats is relatively lighter.

The Punjab government had earlier told the High Court that it was facing financial difficulties in paying DA to its employees. However, the High Court had pointed out that the state was spending large amounts on various welfare schemes and other benefits. The same argument was raised before the Supreme Court by lawyers representing the employees. They drew the court's attention to the various welfare schemes and free benefits provided by the state government.

However, Justice Nagarathna observed that beneficiaries of such schemes and government employees belonged to different categories. She said welfare schemes were intended to support economically and socially disadvantaged sections, while government employees already enjoyed special benefits and job security.

Senior advocate Devadatt Kamat argued that many government employees worked sincerely and that it would be unfair to suggest that they were not performing their duties properly. In response, Justice Nagarathna observed that if government employees were working with sincerity and accountability, there would not be such a large number of cases pending before courts across the country. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court stayed the contempt proceedings against the Punjab Chief Secretary.