The Aryavarth Express
Jaipur: A contractual worker at the Rajasthan High Court identified as Manish Kumar Saini died by suicide by hanging himself in the premises of the court allegedly after not receiving his monthly stipend for a few months.
Saini was working for the Advocate General’s office as a clerk.
The Advocate General’s office announced yesterday that Rs 10 lakh will be given to the family by the state government. Additionally, Rs 1 lakh will be provided by the Advocate General’s office. There is also assurance of employment to Seema Kumar Saini, wife of the deceased.
Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has urged the state government to ensure financial assistance to the family of the contract worker.
“The suicide of contract employee Mr. Manish Saini in Rajasthan High Court is very sad. I pray to God for peace of the departed soul and courage for the family members. Mr. Manish was a low-paid contract worker. The state government should ensure financial assistance to the victim’s family,” said the former Rajasthan CM.
“During our government, contractual service rules were made and the screening process was started to secure the future of about one lakh ten thousand contract workers. The present government should immediately take the said process forward and regularise all contract workers and give them proper pay scale,” he said.
The family members of the deceased had staged a dharna in the court premises on Friday. The lawyers also staged a protest and blocked the roads outside the high court.
The brother of the deceased, Ravish Saini, said that the deceased wanted to become a regular employee of the High Court, and a case in the Supreme Court was ongoing regarding payment of salary.
“A case had been going regarding making him a regular employee of the High Court. The case is in Supreme Court; whenever he used to go for a hearing, he used to only get tareekh pe tareekh (date after date). He used to only get a Rs 4000 to Rs 4.5 thousand salary, so all that was spent on travelling. So because of that, he did this,” he said.
Moreover, the aunt of the deceased, Sunita Saini, said that they got to know about the death of Manish after workers in the court informed them.
“His suicide note is here; we got information from the workers after they called us that Manish has done this. We said that he left home in a good mood; he bought food too. He didn’t say that he had any fight or enmity with anyone at work,” she said.
She also mentioned that Manish had said in the suicide note that he was very troubled by the case and the Rajasthan government not deciding on his employment.
“We read his suicide note, in which he said that the Rajasthan government has not decided on my issue, and I am very troubled by the case. He was in lakhs of rupees of debt, and because of that, he took this step,” she said.
She also demanded that the wife of the deceased be given a job, Rs 1 crore as compensation, and help with the education of her kids.
“We demand that his widowed wife get a job, Rs 1 crore compensation, and education for the children. We have been demanding this for the past 8 hours; the administration is so slow that nobody is listening to us,” she said.
Moreover, the payment for contractual staff has been revised, effective from October 1, 2024.
The salary of a stenographer has been increased from Rs 4,400 to Rs 17,000. The salary of the junior clerk has been increased from Rs 5,600 to Rs 14,000, and the booklifter’s salary has been increased from Rs 4,400 to Rs 11,000.
