SSB constable moves Delhi HC against cut in salary

A 30-year-old constable of the Sashatra Seema Bal (SSB) moved the Delhi High Court alleging that 85 per cent of his salary is being deducted illegally for the money incurred on medical expense for his kidney transplant procedure.

Manish Kumar, who claims to have been deputed at hard postings for continuous six years including high altitude mountains and the dreaded Kalapaani in Uttarakhand, claimed that the force was "harassing and coercing" him to repay the amount that was given to him by labeling it as loan, even as it actually is part of his medical reimbursement.

Following this, a bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Pratibha Rani on Tuesday issued a notice to the Centre and called for entire records of the constable's case within seven days.

The plea was mentioned urgently before a bench of Justice S Ravindra Bhat and Justice A K Chawla on Monday following which it was listed on Tuesday.

Kumar alleged that he has been receiving a meager amount of Rs 5,000 as monthly salary from the last six months. Advocate Tushar Sannu, appearing for Kumar, claimed that as a result of these hard postings the health of his client deteriorated.

"Finally it was found in the medical examination that the kidney of the petitioner was badly damaged," he said.

In 2013, the doctors at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital advised immediate kidney transplantation for Kumar and gave an estimate of Rs 11 lakh for expenditure. However, since he could not afford such a huge amount, he sought for a loan of which Rs 6 lakh was approved by the SSB.

The rest of the amount was arranged by his father and friends through loans.

Kumar was paying Rs 5,000 as the installment for the loan which he had to give for 60 months. However, he received a letter from the DIG SSB that he had paid only Rs 40,000 of the entire amount and so a sum of Rs 30,000 will be deducted from his salary.

Aggrieved by this, the soldier sought relief from the HC which fixed the next date of hearing to February 6.