The Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (WASA) have claimed that there is no violation of any existing laws and rules in giving performance bonus to its employees.
It is usual customs of the organisation to grant performance bonus to its employees since 2011, and the authority are granting the bonus within the purview of the relevant laws and rules.
In a report submitted in the High Court the Dhaka WASA also said it is giving the performance bonus to its employees for reaching pre-established goals and benchmarks.
Complying with a High Court order, the Chairman of the Dhaka WASA submitted the report on Wednesday through his lawyer Barrister Sayed Mahsib Hossain.
It also said that there is no scope to form an independent commission to review its decision of increasing water tariff since the same was done under due process of law. Increasing the price was mandatory due to the fluctuation rate of inflation, also read the report.
Following a writ petition the High Court on August 16 this year issued an injunction against chairman, managing director and the board of the Dhaka WASA restraining them from distributing performance bonus to the employees till disposal of a rule issued by it.
The High Court bench of Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah and Justice Kazi Md Ejarul Haque Akondo passed the order after hearing the writ petition filed by the Consumer Association of Bangladesh (CAB).
In the rule the court asked the concerned bodies of the government to explain in four weeks as to why awarding the performance bonus to the employees of the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority should not be declared illegal.
It also wanted to know in the rule as to why the fixation of the water tariff by the Board of Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority without framing any rule and in violation of provisions of the WASA Act, 1996 should not be declared illegal and as to why the respondents should not be directed to refrain from re-fixing the water tariff until a rule is made there under by the government.
Local Government Secretary, Dhaka WASA board, Dhaka WASA Chairman and other respondents have been asked to comply with the rule.
The Dhaka WASA Chairman in his report also said, “Dhaka WASA is profitable organization. However, customers of the Dhaka WASA are not paying water bills regularly. The late payment is not deposited by the customers in the government exchequer. Therefore, Board of Dhaka WASA has taken decision to award performance bonus to its employees so that they can try their best to recover bills from the customers.”
It claimed that there is no scope for corruption for the Managing Director of Dhaka WASA as all the decision are taken by the board through resolution passed in board meetings.
Under Section 22 of the Dhaka WASA Act, 1996, it is the duty of the Authority to review the tariff once in every year and if the operation cost of Dhaka WASA raises due to inflation then the authority can increase the tariff up to 5.0 per cent with the approval of the Board.
