The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday directed the committee formed for the implementation of Seventh Pay Commission recommendations to file its report by September 30.
The High Court also observed that all disciplinary action against the JACTTO-GEO members, who went on an indefinite strike, would be kept in abeyance till further orders.
There would be no cut in salary as per the ‘no-work, no-pay’ policy of the government as the senior counsel appearing for JACTO-GEO members had given an undertaking that employees would work on Saturdays to compensate for the days lost during the strike.
Continuing the hearing of a petition filed by advocate T. Sekaran, a division bench of Justices K. K. Sasidharan and G. R. Swaminathan observed that the government should take a decision on the implementation of the recommendations made by the committee by October 13 and if there was a delay it could consider giving interim relief to the employees, which would be adjusted later. Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan was present at the hearing on the orders of the High Court.
Advocate General Vijay Narayan argued that when the new pension scheme was introduced in April 2003, employees gave an undertaking to accept it. When a meeting was held with the Chief Minister, the JACTO-GEO members were convinced by the assurances given by the government. However, a section of employees went ahead with an indefinite strike. After the court stayed the strike, the number of employees on strike went down.
Senior counsel N. G. R. Prasad, appearing for JACTO-GEO, argued that employees formed the backbone of the government and that employees would work on Saturdays to compensate for the days they were absent during the strike.
The petition has been posted for further hearing on October 23.
