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An uneasy ceasefire for now in telecom war
Sandeep Dikshit
| Officers' talks with the Centre end on `positive note', but legal notice served |
* "Core concerns" of officers to be considered *"Contingency plan" in place if no headway *At stake is status as government servants
NEW DELHI: A meeting between Group A officers of the Indian Telecom Service Association and Union Communications Secretary J. S. Sarma to avert a confrontation ended on a "positive note'' here in the Capital late on Monday night.
"Today's meeting was a positive development. The Communications Secretary will consider our core concerns again and get back to us,'' said S. S. Sirohi, president of the Indian Telecom Service Association, the largest group among the 3,000 Group A officers resisting giving up their status as government servants without clearly defined terms of service. At the same time, the Association has served a legal notice on the Communications Secretary for allegedly ignoring observations of the Guwahati and Uttaranchal High Courts.
"They have certain concerns which they will give in writing on Tuesday. We have explained that we have done a lot for them and will address concerns such as special pay,'' said sources in the Central Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
As many as 3,000 Group A officers working on deputation in Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) are resisting the October 10 deadline of giving up their status as Government servants or face the possibility of being out in the surplus cell. The Government claims to have prepared ``contingency plans'' if the officers resist being absorbed in MTNL and BSNL.
The genesis of the confrontation lies in two Government circulars to the 3,000 Group A officers asking them to exercise the option of giving up their status as government servants and being absorbed into MTNL and BSNL or staying on with DoT.
Taking an unyielding line, the Union Cabinet on September 29 had extended the date for absorption to October 15 and offered a package in return for giving up the status of government servants.
According to the legal notice, the Uttaranchal and Guwahati High Courts have stayed the move and therefore ``any effort to implement the contents of the circular [asking the officers to exercise the option] in respect of any officer, whether such officer is one of the petitioners in these writ petitions or not, would amount to contumacious contempt of the directions given by the High Courts and would accordingly invite action against the officers responsible for any such attempt''.
The notice reflected the ITSA general body resolution of October 7 that noted the developments in the process of absorption and resolved that no ITS officer would take absorption in BSNL/MTNL on the presently offered demeaning terms and conditions.
It also appealed to retired officers not to take appointment as part of the so-called "contingency plan".
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