NAGPUR, OCT 18: Hundreds of litigants from the public sector units (PSUs) and other establishments have been put to great inconvenience because of delay in starting of new Central Government Industrial Tribunal (CGIT)-cum-Labour Court in the city for the Vidarbha region.PSU litigants are totally in dark about when exactly the CGIT court will start functioning. Government departments are unable to provide any satisfactory answer to this and the only person who could have given a true picture - S G Saxena, the presiding judge of the court is untraceable!Saxena, who had been staying in Ravi Bhavan since his appointment two months ago, has suddenly left the place without leaving any contact address behind. No clue to his whereabouts could be found despite enquiries.Talking to The Indian Express, S M Mishra, Regional Labour Commissioner (C), Nagpur, suggested Saxena might have gone on leave.Government callousness in such important a matter is puzzling. Fed up with the undue delay K Jagdeeshan,general secretary of the Citizens' Council for Public Grievances has despatched a letter to the Joint Secretary, Ministry of Labour, appealing to him to look into the matter immediately.One can understand the pent-up anxiety of the public sector litigants over delay in setting up of the CGIT court, sanction for which was given by the Ministry of Labour, New Delhi, a year ago, in September 1998, after a great deal of persuasion by the public sector trade unions.Incidentally, the labour or industrial disputes of the PSUs are first referred for reconciliation to the Central Labour Commissioner in the city. Only when the reconciliation efforts fail the cases are referred to the CGIT. Since the nearest CGIT bench for industrial disputes in Vidarbha is located at Jabalpur, litigants have to go all the way there for hearing of their cases. With a large number of PSUs including the Western Coalfields Ltd, Mineral Exploration Corp Ltd, MOIL, Indian Bureau of Mines, insurance companies and large number of bankslocated in the Vidarbha region litigants had to face great hardship in attending to their cases.The unions had therefore appealed to the government that in the absence of the CGIT in the city, hundreds of employees from the public sector and other establishments had been facing a great deal of hardship in attending to their industrial disputes cases. No wonder a large number of cases are pending in the two CGIT courts at Jabalpur and Mumbai.While the Jabalpur court has a backlog of more than 15,000 cases, including 1500 cases from Vidarbha, according to a rough estimate, more than 40,000 public sector employees have been waiting for justice over the years in the Jabalpur and Mumbai courts.It was with the intent of hastening the process of setting up of the court in Nagpur that the Labour Ministry appointed S G Saxena as presiding judge of the CGIT. The Ministry then also directed Regional Labour Commissioner (C), Nagpur, S M Mishra, to locate a suitable place for office accommodation for the courtin the city. Mishra was also directed to help in the appointment of office staff for the court.According to Mishra, he has been taking keen interest in the setting up of the CGIT court. Following a request from the Regional Labour Commissioner, the CPWD submitted the estimated cost of the infrastructure required at Rs 2.5 lakh. The Labour Ministry is yet to sanction the fund. Hopefully, the court will start functioning in two months time, he said.Mishra denied the charge that Saxena had rejected names of employees for the proposed court suggested by him. The court would need around eight officials while a secretary has already been appointed by Saxena and others, including typists/stenos, office assistants, peons, guards etc. would also be appointed subsequently, he said.Jagdeeshan warned that trade unions are gearing up to launch an agitation if there is any further delay in setting up of CGIT court in the city.
