Ahmedabad: The Gujarat high court has raised concerns over a large commission being paid to an outsourcing agency by the Dahod district administration, even as sweepers hired through the agency was being paid less than the minimum wages mandated by the govt.The court's intervention came after Ramesh Harijan, employed as a sweeper by the Dahod district health department through Ultra Modern Agency, approached the high court. He challenged his transfer from Devgadh Baria to Ahwa in Dang district, nearly 300 km away, and also sought a direction to increase his salary to Rs 14,800—the minimum wage—as he was being paid significantly less.During the hearing, Justice Nikhil Kariel sought details of the financial arrangement between the state govt and the outsourcing agency.

It was revealed that while the state pays Rs 23,987 per worker per month to the agency, the workers receive only Rs 12,090 as salary. Of the total, Rs 3,659 is paid towards GST.

The court noted that even after deducting GST, Rs 20,328 remains, raising the question of how workers receive Rs 8,000 less. "While the state is employing persons through outsourcing as part of its austerity drive, the above figures indicate something else.

This court restrains itself from commenting any further on the above," the judge remarked.The court has now ordered the district development officer (DDO) of Dahod to be made a party in the litigation and directed the officer to file an affidavit explaining the additional Rs 8,000 payment to the outsourcing agency."Let the newly joined respondent, i.e., DDO of Dahod, file his reply under what circumstance an amount of Rs 8,000 per month is being paid additionally to the outsourcing agency, i.e., to explain what work is done by the outsourcing agency which requires a payment of Rs 8,000 per month to the outsourcing agency, whereas the employee gets only Rs 12,090 per month," the court directed.