Will settle Rs 1,136 crore dues to retired TNSTC staff: state govt to HC
Chennai: In a big relief to Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) employees, the state Government has informed the Madras high court that the TNSTC would settle Rs 1,136 crore to employees by October 7, 2017.
Advocate General Vijay Narayan gave an undertaking before the division bench comprising Justices S. Manikumar and M. Govindaraj, when a suo motu proceeding initiated by the bench came up for hearing on Friday. The proceeding was initiated based on a postcard message sent by a retired employee to the Division Bench of Justices M.V. Muralidharan and N. Seshasayee when they were hearing petitions during summer vacation sitting in the high court bench at Madurai, on May 16.
Taking serious note of the message sent by R. Mayandi Servai, 82, Justice M.V. Muralidaran directed the high court registry to treat it as a suo motu public interest litigation petition. Subsequently, it was transferred to the principal seat of the high court.
Servai, in the postcard, stated that his benefits were not settled by TNSTC even 24 years after his retirement from the service.
He also pointed out several hundred retired employees also were facing a similar precarious situation. Servai said that the judges passed a harsh order against TNSTC employees, without knowing the ground realities and the government’s failure to honour its statutory liabilities.
The bench, earlier this year, directed the TNSTC employees when they were engaged in agitation, to return to work forthwith or end up facing action under the Essential Services Maintenance Act of 1968.
