The Supreme Court has summoned the Assam chief secretary on November 14 to explain the delay in clearing long-pending dues of workers and employees of 25 tea gardens in the state.

The order summoning the senior bureaucrat was passed in a contempt petition by a division bench comprising Justices Abhay S. Oka and Augustine George Masih on Monday.

Justice Oka said: “We direct the chief secretary of state of Assam to personally remain present in the court on the next date, i.e., 14th November 2024. The state will have to seriously answer the question why there is no sincere effort made to pay the dues of the workmen who have worked in tea estates owned by the state of Assam.”

“We will tell you, we agree with your criticism that it is harsh. We are dealing with dues of poor workmen. Unless we pass harsh orders, they will not get the money. We accept your fair criticism that we are harsh,” LiveLaw.in, a legal news portal, has quoted Justice Oka as saying during the hearing on Monday.

Ravi Kota is the incumbent chief secretary. A 1993 batch IAS officer, he took charge on March 31, 2024.

The apex court has also issued notice to the Union ministry of commerce in connection with the case which dates back to 2006 when the International Union of Food and Agricultural Workers moved the court for clearance of unpaid dues, including wages and benefits.

Despite the court’s order to clear the dues in 2010, there was little movement towards resolution of the issue, resulting in the filing of the contempt petition in 2012.

According to the Justice (retired) A.M. Sapre committee, set up in 2020 by the apex court to calculate the total pending dues of the workers, around ₹ 414.73 crore were owed to the workers in addition to ₹ 230.69 crore in provident fund.

The apex court had directed both the state government and the Centre in 2023 to disburse ₹645 crore to 28,556 workers from 25 tea gardens, of which 15 belong to the state-owned Assam Tea Corporation Limited (ATCL). The rest are private gardens.

The Assam Tea Tribe Students Association (ATTSA) has described the inordinate delay as very unfortunate.

“The government should clear the dues with interests as soon as possible. The delay is very unfortunate. The non-intervention of leading tea trade unions such as the ACMS and ACKS in the matter is also unfortunate,” ATTSA president Dhiraj Goala said.

A former ATCL hand said the state government has sanctioned about ₹340 crore in three phases in the past two-and-a-half years to the “ailing” corporation of which about ₹ 346 crore has been disbursed to the workers and staff. It is also in talks with the trade unions to settle the remaining amount in phases.

Sources said the state was ready to pay all statutory dues but was seeking “some relief” from non-statutory dues given ATCL’s financial health. “ATCL disbursed all funds received from the government but fresh dues are accruing for which it has not been able to implement notified daily wage of ₹ 250 in Brahmaputra Valley and ₹ 223 in Barak Valley,” the source said.

The ATCL is now paying its workers and staff ₹ 205 in Brahmaputra Valley and ₹ 183 in Barak Valley.