MPs flay SC ruling on strike

Cutting across party lines, members of the Lok Sabha today criticised the Supreme Court verdict striking down the right to strike, and deman...

Cutting across party lines, members of the Lok Sabha today criticised the Supreme Court verdict striking down the right to strike, and demanded that the government either bring in a legislation making the right to strike a fundamental right or move a special leave petition SLP against the Apex court8217;s verdict.

In his reply to the calling attention motion on the issue, Minister of Personnel Suresh Pachauri said the SC verdict on the sensitive issue was 8216;8216;under review8221; and therefore it would not be 8216;8216;proper8221; to reveal the government8217;s future moves. He, however, read out portions of the CMP to underline the UPA Government8217;s commitment to protect the interests of workers.

At the prompting of Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, the minister also said the government was 8216;8216;open8221; to the idea of calling a meeting of leaders of all political parties to discuss the issue.

Earlier, Left MPs Basudeb Acharia and Gurudas Dasgupta led the outcry against the SC 8216;8216;obiter dicta8221; against the right to strike when the apex court was dealing with a case related to the Tamil Nadu government8217;s action against striking government employees.

Dasgupta said when he and another trade union leader had asked former PM A.B. Vajpayee about the NDA government8217;s stance on the SC verdict, Vajpayee had said, 8216;8216;Hum bhi khush nahin hain8221; we are not happy either. But the NDA government had done nothing about it. The right to strike had been gained by the working class after a struggle and it was used as a 8216;8216;last resort8221; and not 8216;8216;just for fun8221;, he added.

Although their names were not listed, several other members, including Anant Geete Shiv Sena, Shailendra Kumar SP, Devendra Prasad Yadav RJD, Raghunath Jha RJD, and V. Radhakrishnan CPM echoed the demand for government intervention to overturn the verdict.

The only member to take a somewhat different view on the matter was Manvendra Singh Cong, who felt employees manning essential services such as hospitals or oil refineries should not be allowed to strike at will.

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In his reply, Pachauri said industrial workers were governed by the Industrial Disputes Act and were entitled to the right to strike; industrial workers in public utilities could go on strike after giving 14-day notice; and government employees could seek various remedies through the consultative machinery or arbitration.