Sunday 7 May 2017

Majithia: Regarding withdrawal of the Contempt case against Prabhat Khabar

I have been getting queries from all over the country about the withdrawal of the Contempt Petition (C) 108/2015 titled ‘Satya Prakash Chaudhary vs Kamal Kishore Goenka’. This case was filed through me in the Supreme Court by eight courageous and intrepid journalists of Prabhat Khabar. I must say that they have fairly good understanding of trade unionism and believe in value based journalism. One of them is Satya Prakash Chaudhary, who is the Executive Editor of the Prabhat Khabar in Siligudi in North Bengal and the other person is Manoj Kumar Sinha from Ranchi. Both of them have been regularly interacting with me regarding the case. When the Management started harassing and victimising them and many others, they approached the Labour Commissioner, who proved to be ineffective in rendering any help to employees.
Needless to mention, that the Management was scared of the Contempt Petition in the Supreme Court. So, it opened the negotiation channel with employees and assured them that their salaries would be increased, continuity of service would remain intact and all disciplinary proceedings would be dropped. Employees were almost economically broken and it was not possible for them to sustain for long. They consulted me and I told them that the final call of the withdrawal of the case had to be taken by them only because I worked as their attorney in the Supreme Court. I also told them that ‘negotiation’ is one of the most accepted and recognised form of the trade unionism and in the process, sometimes you have to move one step backward in order to achieve two steps forward. Therefore, they decided to withdraw the case.
After all, they have gained significantly by filing their case in the Supreme Court, so, in a way, it was their victory. I have graduated to Advocacy through trade unionism and therefore welfare of the workers is of the uppermost importance for me. This was the reason that I gave my NOC without batting my eyelids. Nevertheless, they have promised me to pay the agreed amount of my fee. Senior Advocate Gopal Jain made the request for withdrawal of the case. Incidentally, Shri Gopal Jain is the elder brother of a left-leaning and a noted TV journalist Srinivasan Jain, who works for the NDTV24.
I wish all the best to my friends in Prabhat Khabar and I hope that they would keep the spirit of ‘unity and struggle’ burning among all the employees.

[Parmanand Pandey]


पढ़े- मजीठिया: प्रभात खबर के कुछ कर्मियों ने किया समझौता, मिथिलेश का इनकार http://patrakarkiawaaz.blogspot.in/2017/05/blog-post_57.html





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