Tribunal award not practical, says admn.

By Our Staff Reporter

PONDICHERRY, AUG. 12. The Pondicherry administration has decided that it would be inexpedient to enforce the award submitted by the Special Industrial Tribunal to the Government on April 18, on the expiry of 30 days from its date of publication.

The tribunal, headed by the retired district judge of Tamil Nadu, Mr. Durai Kaliyarethnam, was constituted in July last year for adjudicating the wage dispute in the government-owned AFT Mills here.

An official release today said the tribunal had recommended enhancement of basic wages to the tune of Rs. 1,920 per month for workers numbering 4,500 from January 1999. Increase in annual increment of wages and house rent allowance for the workers, weightage incentive for long-served workers were also recommended.

It recommended that the award would be in force for three years from April 18 this year or five years from January 1999 or till normal conditions were restored and the mill started yielding profit. As per Section 17 of the Industrial Disputes Act the award once published in the Gazette should be enforceable after 30 days from the date of its publication.

The administration said the additional financial liability to the mill would be Rs. 12.60 crores including Rs. 9.35 crores for payment of arrears. If the interim relief already given to workers at Rs. 600 every month was taken into consideration, the immediate financial liability would be Rs. 15.48 crores.

The administration has said that the wages constituted 45 per cent of the cost of production of cloth as against industrial norm of 22 per cent for composite mill. If the award was implemented, this would push up to nearly 60 per cent.

The administration clarified that the mill had been incurring loss since 1993-94. There was no possibility of the mill making any profit in the foreseeable future.

The Territorial Administration has so far invested Rs. 157.76 crores in the mill and a major part had been used for payment of wages and bonus to the employees and workers.

If the award was to be implemented, the administration would have to make available Rs. 12.60 crores in addition to Rs. 22.30 crores already included in the budget for 2001-2002. This would necessitate a cut on outlays approved for other departments.

The Additional Secretary to the Union Home Ministry, Dr. D.P. Shenoy (Chairman of the Plan Monitoring Cell), during his recent visit to Pondicherry, said the AFT Mill in its present condition was not viable to be run by the Government and hence should be either closed down or privatised.

He asked the management to considerably reduce manpower through voluntary retirement scheme and modernise the mill to enable it to generate its own funds in the near future.

The administration would consider the matter further and suitable order within 90 days either modifying or rejecting the award would be issued. The order would be placed on the table of the Assembly as required by the Act.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Southern States
Previous : DMK to blame for UST: Pondy secular front
Next     : Technical teachers' plea