Former High Court Justice F.I. Rebello will look into issues facing the employees of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST), who called off their nine-day strike on Wednesday. The BEST Workers’ Union, BEST administration, State government and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) told the Bombay High Court that they have agreed to have Justice Rebello as a mediator.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice Naresh Patil and Justice N.M. Jamdar was hearing a public interest litigation filed by advocate Datta Mane questioning the inconvenience caused to around 50 lakh commuters by the BEST staff strike.
The BEST employees had been on strike since January 8, demanding higher salaries, a revision in pay scale for junior employees, and merger of the BEST budget with that of the BMC.
Advocate Neeta Karnik, representing the workers’ union, said there should be at least a 15-step increment in the pay scale, and not the 10-step raise that was recommended by the committee headed by the Chief Secretary in court on Tuesday.
The court then said, “Go to a mediator, take his view and consider it.” It said the situation should not have been brought to this extent, and that the BEST and BMC should show more consideration towards the BEST employees.
The court told BEST counsel M.P. Rao “to give a reasonable hearing and decide on a respectable amount as it is not easy for families to survive with low salary”. Mr. Rao agreed to a 10-step increment in salaries from January instead of February, without arrears.
Justice Rebello will look into the union’s demands for a merger of the budgets of the BEST and BMC, as well as a charter of demands that was to be partly fulfilled from April 2016.
On behalf of the BEST administration, he will look into the implementation of wet leasing of buses and also take an undertaking from the union that the employees will not go on strike pending the mediation.
The infrastructure for the mediation will be provided by the BMC, and the resulting report has to be submitted to the court in three months’ time.
The HC order has directed the mediator to take up the 10-step increment issue “on priority and opine on the same at the earliest, preferably within six weeks”.
