Members of the Joint Action Council of Tamil Nadu Teachers’ Organisations and Government Employees’ Organisations (Jactto-Geo) on Friday withdrew the undertaking they had submitted to the Madras High Court to defer their strike. They are now planning to go on an indefinite strike from January 22.
With talks having failed and the State government yet to respond to the reports of the T.S. Sridhar and Siddique committees on the implementation of the old pension scheme and the rectification of pay structure anomalies, respectively, the members of Jactto-Geo informed the Madurai Bench that they were withdrawing the undertaking on the deferment of the strike.
A Division Bench of Justices K.K. Sasidharan and G.R. Swaminathan made a note of the submission and adjourned the hearing in the case to January 28. The court asked the government to respond to the queries on pay structure anomalies by then.
Jactto-Geo had planned to go on an indefinite strike from December 4 last year, after talks with the government failed. However, following the court’s intervention, it agreed to defer the strike.
The court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by advocate S. Loganathan of Madurai, seeking a direction to restrain the organisation’s members from striking. He contended that under Rule 22 of the Tamil Nadu Government Servants Conduct Rules, 1973, employees were prohibited from engaging in strikes for grievance redressal while neglecting their duties.
