DUJ CONGRATULATES the workers of
Hindustan Times Ltd for yet another legal victory in their prolonged struggle
against unfair dismissal by the management. A District Court has told the
management to “reinstate all the eligible Workmen with effect from 03.10.04
itself”.
The workers had been granted this
relief by an Industrial Tribunal on 23.01.2012 but the management had not
complied with the order. The workers filed an execution
petition. Recently Justice Surinder S. Rathi, Additional District Judge,
Patiala House Courts in his order of 14.05.2016 has upheld the Industrial
Tribunal order and given the management four weeks to comply.
If the Hindustan Times management
complies with the order at least 227 workers (perhaps more) will get their jobs
back. Delhi
Union of Journalists strongly urges the Hindustan Times management to uphold
the law and implement the order..
Earlier, the HT management had
claimed that it had issued reinstatement letters to the workers but it had done
so with certain riders, such as return of previously paid money. In the latest
judgement Justice Rathi states: “The purported reinstatement letter issued to
the workmen on 19.04.13 is an eyewash and a moonshine and is no compliance of the award.”
The management had been
quibbling on the date of reinstatement and had even tried to issue
‘termination’ letters to the ‘reinstated’ workers! Justice Rathi’s order says
that since there was no reinstatement there could be no termination.
THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES
The reinstatement order applies to
227 petitioners of the 362 who had originally been thrown out by the company. A
few had accepted the termination; some have filed separate cases; some have
died while fighting their cases. Some workers were unable to sign the
vakalatnama for the execution petition on time as they had gone to their
villages. The struggle has seen many ups and downs, many cases, several lawyers
and even some differences among the workers and their leaders. Some cases are
still in court. Some journalists too have
separately challenged their termination orders whereas many had accepted it
quietly.
Eminent lawyers including Prashant
Bhushan and Colin Gonsalves, among others have generously given their time and
advice to the workers’ cause, as have other lawyers in the lower courts. In the
Execution petition the workers were represented by advocate Ramesh K. Mishra.
Many others have provided support.
Among journalist bodies the Delhi
Union of Journalists supported the case from the conciliation stage and
spotlighted it throughout.DUJ has always supported the Hindustan Times workers
and journalists’ struggle in many ways. The issue was also raised
in Parliament from time to time and solidarity rallies held coordinated by the
DUJ and by the Confederation of News Paper and News Agencies Employees
Organisations from time to time.
Infact- today, 12 years later the
intrepid workers of Hindustan Times continue their prolonged resistance. They
are sitting on dharna outside the massive HT office building on Kasturba Gandhi
Marg, demanding their jobs back. More power to them!!! We salute their grit,
are with them and await their final victory. Our thoughts are with their
families too and some are starving. As final justice is awaited atleast twelve
workers have lost their lives while the HT management dithers as it always did…
S.K.Pande (President)
Sujata Madhok (General Secretary)
DELHI UNION
OF JOURNALISTS(Regd.)
F-29, New Central Market, Connaught
Circus, New Delhi-110 001
Phone: 23413459, E-mail:duj.delhi@gmail.com,
No comments:
Post a Comment