KARACHI, March 30: In violation of the orders of the Sindh High Court, the city government has not paid dues to the employees of the defunct Karachi Development Authority.

Sources told PPI that the employees of the defunct KDA were facing hardship because their dues had not yet been paid by the city government. "The employees of the defunct KDA filed a petition with the SHC, which gave a ruling in their favour," they recalled.

They added that the SHC had directed the city government on Nov 13, 2003, "to give benefits to the staff of the defunct KDA which are permissible under the law and as per the rules of the city government."

The sources asserted that the former KDA employees were entitled to all the facilities they had been enjoying before the introduction of the local government system. They said that under section 183 of the Sindh Local Government Ordinance 2001, the city government was bound to provide these facilities to the staff of those department which had been devolved.

They said the city government's budget for 2003-04 provided for the payment of dues, which, they added, had not been released because of the reluctance of high-ranking officials. "A number of letters have been sent to the Karachi Nazim and other functionaries of the city government, informing them about the sufferings of the employees," they said.