OVER A month after the Supreme Court dismissed its plea opposing permanency of conservancy workers, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has set up a three-member committee which will verify the credentials of the 2,700 contractual workers. Since the civic body suspects that many of the conservancy workers are fraudulent and have not worked under the NGOs hired by it, the BMC has empowered the panel to carry out an extensive verification drive. The panel was suggested to municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta by senior officials from the solid waste management department (SWM). “We have reviewed our documents and we have reasons to believe that 80 per cent of the 2,700 workers who are part of the group which approached the courts have not been employed either directly or indirectly by the BMC. We will follow the orders of the Supreme Court but after carrying out a thorough verification of all 2,700 workers,” said an official of the SWM department. The three member committee will include deputy municipal commissioner of the SWM department Vijay Balamwar, chief engineer (SWM) Siraj Ansari and a law officer. The official said that the committee will check the workers’ credentials including work records, identification proof including Aadhaar card of before clearing arrears or making them permanent employees. In response, General Secretary of the Kachra Vahtuk Shramik Sangh (KVSS) Milind Ranade General pointed out that the conservancy workers are daily wage labourers and many may not have their receipts from 2014. “The NGOs and the BMC will have the receipts and additional documentation. The Supreme Court, High Court and Industrial Tribunal’s orders are clear that the workers should receive their dues and if the BMC does not follow their orders then we are not afraid to approach the court again,” he said. As members of the KVSS union, as many as 2,700 conservancy workers who are paid allowances through the contractor instead of wages, had approached the Industrial Tribunal in 2007 demanding that they be granted the benefits of permanent employees instead of being treated as contractual workers. Conservancy workers are employed by the BMC through NGOs every year for the cleaning of roads and collection and transportation of solid waste from houses to the dumping ground. On October 23, 2014, the Industrial Tribunal had ruled in favour of the conservancy workers and had directed the BMC to extend the benefits and status of permanent workers and clear the arrears of those who had completed 240 days of service from the date of joining. The BMC had then challenged the order in the Bombay High Court and was turned down on December 22 last year. Finally, the civic body had approached the Supreme Court in January. While the Supreme Court has upheld the order issued by the Industrial Tribunal, it has partially allowed the BMC’s appeal. Referring to the verification process of the 2,700 workers taken up while the case was pending in the Bombay High Court, the apex court order states that BMC will have to grant permanency and clear the arrears for 1,600 workers who had come forward for the verification process last year. For the remaining 1,100 workers, the order states that “a fresh exercise shall be undertaken.with the help of the Corporation and Union by the Industrial Investigating Officer of the Industrial Court within a period of six months from today”. The order also says that the workers who are verified will also be entitled to the relief applicable to the 1,600 workers. arita.sarkar@expressindia.com
