Over the last fortnight, a few school principals have been asking me whether the declaration of holidays by the state government due to the rain is legally binding. My answer has been categorical. Safety matters more than a syllabus. With no dearth of death traps caused by the deluge, the Tamil Nadu government’s decision to err on the side of caution was wise. Holidays are declared under Sec 25 of the Negotiable Instruments Act. When enacted in 1881, this law was centred round banking and commercial transactions. So, on a day on which a promissory note or bill of exchange matured, was a public holiday, “the instrument was deemed to be due on the next preceding business day.” This provision is invoked by state governments to declare public holidays.
In Amitabh Thakur Vs State of UP, it was argued before a Bench of the Allahabad High Court that ‘holiday politics’ was being played in Uttar Pradesh and that the power to declare a public holiday was vested with the central government and not a state government. However, state governments’ power to declare public holidays under the Act flows from a Notification issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs in June, 1957. A division bench of the Madras High Court in State Bank of India Vs State Bank Officers Association held that the explanation of the term ‘public holidays’ in Sec 25 of the Negotiable Instruments Act implies that “the Central Government while fixing the public holidays delegated the power to the State Government.” In the present case, the Education Department of the state government issues a directive to institutions for two reasons – to avoid the danger of students commuting in hostile conditions and because many corporation schools may be housing evacuated residents.
What happens if, say, a private institution affiliated to the CBSE, does not follow a state government holiday directive and a student dies or is seriously injured in a rain related mishap? The institution may be liable under the law of torts and could be ordered to pay damages. If a school building is soaked and collapses, criminality under Sec 338 of the Indian Penal Code may also kick in if the there was negligence in construction. A fallen tree, a crater on the road or a building collapse may be an Act of God but there is room for human prudence too to avert such dangers.
The onus, of course, is on the school or college authorities to reschedule examinations and complete the syllabus. Which is why I advocate a Monsoon Vacation for a month so that there is no need for uncertainty, the hassle of informing parents and the other lurking dangers. The British could not withstand the heat and had to take off to cooler climes in April and May. We can manage the heat. Wouldn’t a month in summer, instead of two, and a month during the monsoon make sense?
A corporate entity recently took a hard line on declaring a rain holiday and an employee died in an accident on the way to work in Chennai. It took a death to open the eyes of bosses cosily perched in Delhi or Mumbai to a humanitarian issue. The same company has now issued an advisory to its employees to await instructions depending on the weather before the next working day. Just because an organisation was forced to give a few rain holidays, it does not get any right to tamper with the regular national or festival holidays without consulting employees as laid down by Sec 9 A of the Industrial Disputes Act. The Supreme Court in Tata Iron & Steel Co. Ltd Vs The Workmen, observed that “sympathetic consideration” by employers should be a guiding principle. Life is not just about legal liability. There is also moral responsibility and humanitarian consideration.
And Corporate Social Responsibility can extend to an organisation’s own employees by way of company provided transport and food during adverse climatic conditions more than all those photo-ops for that statutory 2% contribution under Sec 135 (5) of the Companies Act of 2013.
As for productivity, employees can work from home or anywhere. A lot can happen in the cloud. Literally too!
(Sanjay Pinto is a lawyer, columnist & author)
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