The High Court of Karnataka on Saturday stayed the State government’s notification of extending provisions of Karnataka Essential Services and Maintenances Act (K-ESMA), 2013 to the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL), thereby prohibiting its employees and officers from going on strike or causing obstruction to BMRCL’s activities.
Justice B. Veerappa passed the interim order on a petition filed by BMRCL Employees’ Union, which had questioned the legality of the notification issued on July 7, 2017 under K-ESMA.
Claiming that there is a repugnancy in the ESMA enacted by the Central government and K-ESMA, it has been contended in the petition that ESMA enacted by the Central government is applicable to BMRCL.
As the BMRCL is controlled by the Central government, K-ESMA is not applicable to BMRCL, and the State government had no jurisdiction to invoke K-ESMA against employees of BMRCL, it claimed in the petition.
Indefinite strike
Also, the union stated in the petition that they were intended to go on indefinite strike by issuing a notice in this regard to the BMRCL management, which had allegedly failed to keep up promises made earlier.
However, the petitioner said, the management has been threatening initiate action citing July 7, 2017 notification under K-ESMA.
It has been stated in the petition that the BMRCL’s Managing Director in July, after a snap strike following an assault on some BMRCL employees at a station by security personnel, had agreed to look into employees’ genuine grievances like granting recognition to the Union, not to initiate disciplinary action against employees for participating in agitation, etc.
