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Government servants cannot take part in protest: Kerala HC
Government servants cannot take part in protest: Kerala HC
On Monday the Kerala High Court barred government employees from participating in the ongoing strike, which began earlier that day and asked Government to declare dies non on both days.
The order of the high court came on the day when government and public life functioning came to a halt in Kerala with trade union staging strike against the policies of the union government. 32 out of 4,824 staffs were present at the Kerala government secretariat.
The bench consisting Chief Justice S. Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly passed the order declaring that the strike of government employees was illegal.
In a petition moved through lawyer V Sajith Kumar seeking that the government to ensure compulsory attendance of the employees on the strike day that is March 28 and 29 and initate disciplinary proceeding.
Rule 14(a) of Part 1 of Kerala Service Rules, the absence period of an employee on account of participation in a strike shall be treated as dies-non. Such employee which not be eligible for salary and allowance for that certain period and shall not even be counted for admissibility of earned leave, said the petitioner.
The petitioner has also kind of declare the ongoing strike unconstitutional. The petitioner also mentioned that an earlier Division of bench order which quashed an order stating that the absence on the strike day is eligible with leave and salary. The petitioner has argued that the government had extended unbridled support to the national strike March 28 and 29 by not declaring it as dies-non instead of taking action.
Government seeks legal advice
The state government has sought a legal opinion, after the court order came. The government will act on the order after getting the legal advice from the advocate general.
AITUC (All India Trade Union Congress) slams court order
The All India Trade Union Congress(AITUC), has questioned the high court order. The leader of All India Trade Union Congress(AITUC) K P Rajendran said that the government employees belonging to his union will participate in the strike. He also mentioned that the court was against the workers right to protest. He also added that a decision on filing an appeal against the order will be taken after consulting other unions.
The two-day nationwide strike by trade union has received support from the Kerala State Transport Corporation and BPCL.
