An Australian court has ordered India’s ex-high commissioner to Canberra Navdeep Singh Suri to pay a former domestic employee over USD 136,000 in compensation after she accused him of unfair working conditions, according to Australian media reports.
Justice Elizabeth Raper of the federal court ordered Suri to pay Seema Sherghill within 60 days, ABC News said. Sherghill had travelled to Australia in April 2015, and spent about a year working for Suri at his Canberra home, it said. Though Suri did not appear at the hearing, Justice Raper granted an order for the case to proceed in his absence.
The Australian judge found the former envoy was ineligible to claim foreign state immunity because Sherghill did not work for the High Commission itself, nor diplomatic immunity, as the engagement of a domestic worker was not an official function of his position.
‘Sherghill defied government orders’
People familiar with the case in New Delhi told PTI that it was an ex-parte proceeding in the Australian court and filing of the case by the employer was an “after-thought”. Sherghill was issued an official passport and was asked to return to India in 2016, but she defied government orders. She took Australian citizenship in 2021 and there are reasons to believe that she filed the case with an intention to stay back in that country, they said.
According to them, if the employee had any grievances, she should have returned to India and approached competent authorities or any court. The Federal Court heard Sherghill worked seven days a week, for 17.5 hours per day, the media report said. Sherghill was initially paid the equivalent of about 7.80 dollars per day before she complained and Suri increased her rate to 9 dollars per day, it said.
(With agency inputs)
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