HC notice to Nagaland govt. over unpaid PWD employee’s petition  

DIMAPUR — The Kohima Bench of Gauhati High Court has issued notice to Nagaland government, in particular the commissioner and secretary of P&AR department, after an employee of the state PWD filed a petition seeking for directives to have his Personal Information and Management System (PIMS) registered in the government system.

According to the petitioner, Zanbenth Ngullie, he has been working unpaid for the past 21 months.

“By the order dated December 8, 2022, issued by the Engineer-in-Chief, NPWD, Nagaland, Kohima, the petitioner was appointed to the post of Tracer under the establishment of the engineer-in-chief, NPWD, Nagaland, Kohima. The appointment was made consequent to the approval of the government,” stated an order issued by Justice Kakheto Sema on Thursday.

Following the government approval, the engineer-in-chief wrote a letter to the executive engineer of PWD (NH), Division-I, Kohima, on December 16, 2022 “confirming the appointment of the petitioner and directing the executive engineer to accept the joining report of the petitioner after observing all codal formalities”.

“The engineer-in-chief, NPWD, Nagaland, Kohima, thereafter, wrote the letter dated January 17, 2023 to the secretary, government of Nagaland, Works & Housing department, Kohima, submitting the details of the petitioner for registration under the Personal Information and Management System (PIMS) in the website,” it stated.

Accordingly, the additional secretary for Works & Housing department, recommended for registration of the details of the petitioner in PIMS portal.

“However, as the government did not take any action on the letter written by the department, the engineer-in-chief, NPWD, Nagaland, Kohima, again wrote the letter dated June 20, 2023 to the commissioner & secretary, government of Nagaland, Works & Housing department, Nagaland, Kohima, requesting for issuance of PIMS code in favour of the petitioner.

“As all the steps taken by the department to get the PIMS code of the petitioner registered in the website of the government did not evoke any positive response, the present petition has been filed seeking for a direction, more particularly to the respondent No. 3 (commissioner and secretary of P&AR department) to register the PIMS code in respect of the petitioner,” the order read.

The petitioner also told the court that consequent to the appointment order dated December 8, 2022, he had joined his service w.e.f. the month of January, 2023, “and is regularly attending the office, however, no salary has been paid to the petitioner till date.”

After hearing the submission, Justice Sema directed the Registry to issue notice to the respondents, returnable after 4 weeks.