Retired transport staff dues to be paid in a month
Govt. also agrees to clear dues of over Rs. 17,000 crore
In a major relief to the retired employees of the ailing State transport undertakings, the government on Friday assured the Madras High Court that it shall settle Rs. 1,138.66 crore, due to them as on June 30, by October 7 and file a detailed compliance report in the court.
The government also assured the Division Bench of Justices S. Manikumar and M. Govindaraj that it would come up with a plan to settle Rs. 5,349.93 crore due to serving employees towards surrender of leave, deposit of Provident Fund, payments to be made for Contributory Pension Scheme and so on.
Advocate General Vijay Narayan gave the assurance after holding discussions with Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan as well as Transport Secretary P.W.C. Davidar. He said that a detailed plan would be drawn by the State to settle total dues of Rs. 17,064.88 crore including the amounts to be paid to oil companies and toll booths.
When Mr. Justice Manikumar insisted that Rs. 292.91 crore due to motor accident victims, on the basis of orders passed by various lower courts in the State, should be paid at the earliest , the AG said that he would obtain instructions from the officials on that issue alone by September 21.
Loan disbursement
Mr. Narayan, however, agreed to instruct the government officials to allocate Rs. 16 crore for issuing loans for medical and educational purposes to serving employees following a submission made by advocate C.K. Chandrasekhar, representing a trade union, that the interests of serving employees should also be taken care of. The Advocate General came up with a concrete assurance to disburse Rs. 1,138.66 crore after the Division Bench expressed its anguish over “not even a single pie” having been paid despite a series of orders passed by it since June 9 and contemplated including the Finance Secretary as one of the respondents to the case.
Pointing out that the figure of Rs. 17,064.88 crore was due as on June 30, the Bench said: “Certainly as on today, it would have increased substantially.” Though the government initially sought time till December 30, the judges said that “neither the employees of the transport corporations nor the court can wait” till then.
The observations were made during the hearing of a public interest litigation petition taken up by the court suo motu following a post card sent by 82-year-old R. Mayandi Servai, a retired TNSTC employee.
The octogenarian had accused the two judges of having warned the employees, who were on strike, to work or end up facing action under the Essential Services Maintenance Act of 1968 without taking into consideration the hardships faced by them.
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