3 min readNew DelhiDec 13, 2011 02:01 AM IST
First published on: Dec 13, 2011 at 02:01 AM IST
Workers battling labour disputes related to wages,leave,retrenchment and closure are being made to wait for a final word on their cases before a Central Government Industrial Tribunal (CGIT) due to a ‘technical’ problem.
For more than 10 months now,the Tribunal-cum-Labour Court-1 at the Karkardooma Court Complex in Delhi has been without a stenographer,who is required to take down judgments by the presiding officer. Consequently,Judge R K Yadav has been unable to pass the final orders in more than 80 cases,though the arguments have been concluded.
Officials said the judge is unable to pass the final orders because he does not have a designated staffer to write down the verdicts. In some of the cases,he had to pass the verdict in his own handwriting.
The situation,however,may change. A lawyer has brought the matter to the notice of the Delhi High Court,which has given the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment time till Wednesday to appoint a staffer at the tribunal.
A division bench of Acting Chief Justice A K Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw has censured the ministry’s response to a public interest litigation,filed by advocate M A Niyazi. Niyazi had pointed out that no stenographer or personal assistant was posted by the ministry and,as a result,the work of the CGIT had virtually come to a standstill.
The petition further highlighted that in the absence of a stenographer,the Presiding Officer was facing difficulties in dictating daily orders,and was unable to pass the final orders in as many as 86 industrial disputes. “The government cannot create tribunals and then refrain from providing staff for it. How is a judge supposed to work if he does not even have a stenographer? Let the ministry do whatever is required by December 14. In case of failure,we would like the Director in the Ministry to appear before us,” the bench said.
The court had earlier taken strong exception to the situation,saying: “For proper and efficient functioning of any court or tribunal,it is necessary that adequate staff is provided. Further,it is also not in dispute that with respect to CGIT-cum-Labour Court-1,it is the duty of the Ministry of Labour and Employment to post the necessary staff.”
The ministry’s counsel replied that they would have to send a request for recruitment to the Staff Selection Commission (SSC). The counsel,however,could not tell the court whether any requisition had already been sent to the SSC in this regard.
“This is strange. The judge cannot hire a staff on his own as they (SSC) will not act on his request,and you (the ministry) don’t know whether you have sent any request to the SSC. It cannot be allowed to work like this. You must make a proper request to the SSC. In the meantime,the ministry should take steps for posting a stenographer/personal assistant to the CGIT-cum-Labour Court-1 from its surplus staff quota,” the bench ordered.
However,during a hearing last week,the court noted that nothing had changed ever since,prompting it to give the ministry a week’s time to appoint a stenographer or face action.
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