Odisha To Deduct Court-Ordered Maintenance From Salaries Of Erring Govt Employees
Move follows repeated complaints before CM Majhi; DDOs to transfer deducted amounts directly to beneficiaries’ bank accounts: Reports
BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha government has decided to directly deduct court-ordered maintenance payments from the salaries of government employees who fail to provide financial support to their wives or children, in a move aimed at ensuring strict compliance with judicial orders.
The decision follows Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi taking serious note of repeated complaints from women and children alleging that government employees were withholding maintenance or alimony despite court directions.
Official sources on Sunday said complaints relating to non-payment of maintenance were being raised regularly during the Chief Minister’s grievance hearings, with two to three such cases reportedly coming up at almost every hearing. In several instances, government employees had allegedly failed to honour court orders directing them to pay maintenance to their wives or children.
Taking a stern view of the issue, Mr Majhi has directed the authorities to evolve an institutional mechanism to ensure that such court orders were implemented without forcing beneficiaries to repeatedly approach government offices.
Following the directive, the state government has issued guidelines for the recovery and payment of maintenance amounts ordered by courts in favour of eligible women and children.
Under the new procedure, the concerned Drawing and Disbursing Officer (DDO) will deduct the amount specified in the court order from the employee’s monthly salary while preparing the salary bill.
The deducted amount will subsequently be transferred electronically to the bank account of the wife or children named as beneficiaries in the court order.
The mechanism is intended to eliminate delays and ensure that maintenance ordered by courts reaches beneficiaries on a regular basis.
The government’s intervention is particularly significant in cases where beneficiaries have been unable to secure compliance with maintenance orders despite repeated legal and administrative efforts. By linking the payment directly to the salary-drawing process, the government hopes to ensure that court-mandated financial support is not withheld at the employee’s discretion.
The new arrangement, officials said, will also make it easier for administrative authorities to monitor compliance with maintenance orders involving government employees.