ISLAMABAD, Aug 17: Objecting strongly to non-payment of salary to lady health workers (LHWs) at a time when Eidul Fitr is round the corner, the Supreme Court said on Friday it would initiate contempt of court proceedings if the payments were not made by Saturday (today).

The direction came after Bushra Arain, an LHW, appeared before a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and submitted that despite earlier orders the salary had yet to be released.

Ms Arain is the person who had petitioned the court for initiating contempt proceedings against the authorities for not implementing the Sept 22, 2010, order of the court to frame a service structure for the LHWs that would ensure their job security. According to the petition, the LHWs don’t have job security as they can be removed summarily even after 18 years of service. They are often removed from their jobs by the provincial authorities.

Since the health subject has been devolved to the provinces from the federal government under the 18th Amendment of the Constitution, the small monthly remuneration of Rs7,000 is not paid to the staff regularly, according to Ms Arain. One major reason for this is the erratic payments made by the federal government to the provinces.

She requested the court to send officers responsible for delay in payment of the salary to jails so that they might spend Eid in prison.

Introduced by the late Benazir Bhutto, the LHWs were appointed under the National Programme for Family Planning and Primary Health in 1994 but their jobs were never regularised. At present there are more than 110,000 LHWs across the country.

The salary of an LHW was raised from a paltry Rs3,000 to Rs7,000 after an apex court order of November 2010.

During the proceedings on Friday, the representatives of the provinces told the court that the funds needed for the payment of salary were released by the federal government earlier in the day. They assured the court that the salary would be paid by Saturday.

The officials representing Balochistan told the court that they were yet to receive the required funds. However, they would pay the salary from their own pocket by Saturday.

Expressing dismay over what it described as the insensitivity exhibited by the authorities towards the LHWs, the court said that safeguarding the rights of the people was the fundamental duty of the state.

The court asked the provincial governments to pay the salary to the LHWs even if they had to make special arrangements with the banks. Otherwise, contempt proceedings could be initiated against them.

The proceedings were adjourned for two weeks.