Postal talks today as court fixes deadline to end strike

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, DEC. 13. Postal federation leaders will meet Government representatives tomorrow morning to convey their response in the light of the Delhi High Court's directions today asking both the sides to end the strike within two days.

The court also asked the Government to sort out all pending issues agitating the staff within a week. It adjourned the hearing of the public interest litigation petition to December 20, when the deadline expires for settling all issues.

``We have renewed our appeal to them to end the strike in the light of the court's directions. They will come back with a response tomorrow,'' said a senior postal official after concluding discussions with the employee leaders late tonight. ``The court has said that common man is suffering and therefore all parties must take note of this. We have drawn the attention of the employees to this observation and renewed our appeal to end the strike,'' he added.

The Communications Minister, Mr. Ram Vilas Paswan, told The Hindu that the Government was willing to change the name of the over three lakh extra departmental agents to the satisfaction of the federation leaders. Beyond this, there was little the Government could do without inviting similar demands from other sections. The court observations made it imperative for both the sides to settle the strike by December 15, he said.

The court today made four basic observations: The strike should be ended by December 15 by any means; failure by either side to do so will invite contempt proceedings; all issues should be sorted out within a week; and action against employees should be taken if they do not resume duty by the day after tomorrow.

The demands put forward by the employees can be divided into two categories. One set is for more pay to the three lakh regular departmental employees. In this case, the Government has agreed to accept three minor demands, one major demand is sub judice while the others, it claims, cannot be met without a ``cascading effect'', meaning that government employees in other departments could demand pay parity. The second set is for the 3.5 lakh extra-departmental agents. The postal federations want a change in nomenclature (which the Government is now ready to accept) and a social security system after they cross 65 years of age. The Government says it is impossible to given them pension as similar demands could be aired by other part-time staff such as anganwadi workers and sathins.

In a statement earlier in the day, the postal federations called upon the workers to ignore threats of all repressive measures, including invoking of the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA).

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