Dear friends,
Sorry for updating the blog so late.
Our fight with the union of india and the management has come to an end with the referee reserving the decision. It is something which we were expecting for such a long time and now has come to an end after exactly 10 years from our taking VRS and 8 years from the date we have filed our petition in supreme court and then we came back and filed in different High Courts. How many people have involved themselves in this struggle and how much of physical and mental strain our representatives of different states and places have put and the way our executive committee members worked and also from the other states representatives worked to bring it to the natural end at Supreme court. How many criticisms we crossed and how many associations were formed with varies approach to fight but We proved to one and all that only and only NISVRREA can bring results and one by one Associations supported our effort when the case has come to the final stage.
We should thank all those who were with us and i take this opportunity to do the same. I on behalf of the Officebearers and executive members and other activists thank from bottom of my heart, all those who were with us in this great fight with the management and i feel this will go deep in to the History of struggles and that too by Retired employees of the Insurance industry. I am proud to say that and we can walk with our heads high in the midst of those so called Unions and Associations of the insurance industry who pretend to protect the rights of the employees without realizing that they will also come to our fold one day.
Now that our arguments are over and every body have started asking and all of them are eager to know what happened in the court and what will be the result etc etc. Friends, even though i will not be able to give you word by word commentary as to what happened in court I can give you the two sides of main arguments and I now start describing the scene from day one.
It was 20 th Feb Thursday, and we were all present in the court.ie. Mr. Parthiban Adv from Chennai, Mr.Gautham Narayan junior councel, and Mr.V.Giri Senior Councel with whom we spearheaded our charge against the union of india and management and myself. In the Respondents side Mr. Anthi Arujna with his counsels to assist from Duo Associates representing the management of 3 companies other than New india, and Mr. Jaideep Gupta, Senior counsel for New India, Mrs. Sunita Rao representing the Union of india.
There was a case before ours and we were praying God that it should be finished early so that we will be heard next. Yes that case was adjourned and our case started exactly at 10 55 am, with the bench consists of Honb'le Judges Sri.Dave and Sri.Siva Kirti Singh asking us to begin our arguments. I was praying for this moment all along these 8 years and it has now come. Both the judges were very much attentive and listned to our Senior counsel's argument. The argument went througout the day. We started with the Nationalisation of the industry and explained about the schemes for rationalisation of the salary structure from 1974 to till date and the salient features of the scheme. We also explained about the 1995 Pension scheme and its salient features. We made it clear to the Judges that the revision of schemes were done after the due date and it was always retrospective. As well we explained about the Normal VRS and Super annuation. Then Our Counsel explained about the SVRS scheme and its salient features such as the eligibility, quantum of Ex-gratia and about the arrears of Ex-gratia when wages are revised. We continued explaining the clause 6 of the SVRS and about Pension, P.F., and Gratuity. We also insisted upon the judges that these three are governed by seperate Acts and managed by an independent Fund. and they are our statutory rights and denial of these rights are violative of Article 14 of the Constitution. Then we concentrated on Clause 8 (xiv) of the SVR Scheme, which was the main defence of the Management. We clearly explained that this clause will operate Only within the SVRS scheme and it cannot curtail any benefits like Wage arrears, P.F, Gratuity or Pension. We also explained that the Jural relationship continues, as we are pensioners and the company continues to cover Medical etc. Then we gave examples of case laws viz. Nakara, Deokinandan, Sheelkumar jain, Sanwar lal, Mohan das and our recent case which we won in Kripal singh.
We concluded our arguments the next day by 11.45 am and then Managements' counsel Shri.Anthi Arjuna statrted his onslaught, concentrated on the severing of the Jural relationship once we got the Ex-gratia (including the Arrs.) and quoted it is a contract and nothing can be claimed after the receipt of the declared amounts as per the SVR scheme. He claimed this as Golden Hand Shake and insisted that it is Full and Final settlement as per clause 8(xiv) and argued that it was made clear to employees that nothing else can be claimed after. He depended mainly on the cases of HEC, A.K.Bindal and ITI. for their Defence, and stressed that they have the power to Amend the Scheme and as per 2005 Scheme - clause(3) 2, we are not eligible for the payment of Arrears. Because we are not eligible for Arrears, we are also not eligible for consequential benefits like Pension, P.F., Gratuity etc. He reitirated that there is no violation of Section 14 of the Constitution which speaks about equality before Law. After Sri.Anthi Arjuna finished his arguments at around 3 45 pm. Mr.Jaideep Gupta representing New India management adding to the arguments of Senior Counsel Sri. Anthi Arjuna mainly concentrated on Section 17 A of the Nationalisation Act and the court rose at 4 pm.
On 27th the day of Maha Sivratri, Sri. Jaideep Gupta started his arguments on Government's powers to Amend the Act and repeated the same arguments of the Senior Counsel, just to stress upon the points against us. Smt. Sunita Rao, supported the arguments of the two senior Counsels and concluded. By 11.30 am, Mr. Giri, our Senior Counsel started the counter arguments taking cue from the arguments of Sri Anthi Arjuna who spearheaded the Defence. He broke the arguments of Sri Anthi Arjuna, explaining, the Judges that the Judgement in HEC, ITI and A.K.Bindal were given, basing on the reason that they are all Sick Units and there is no Pensionary benefits in those companies and they are all not coming under Statute, but under Industrial Disputes act where a written agreement was there. Continuing he said, in our case the Scheme is Unilateral and we are coming under statute. We have continued relationship by way of Pension and our Pension is attachable. He quoted from the same HEC case they referred for their Defense, wherein the judges have very clearly stated 'Unless coming under Statute the employees have no claim for the arrears of Wages' and said that the petitioners are covered under statute and we are eligible. The Jural relationship continues here and it was only an afterthought for the companies to restrict the benefits after we went on SVRS. He concluded that a benefit given under different Acts can not be taken away by an amendment subsequent to the SVR scheme. We are clearly differentiated by the Amendment and it is Violative of Art.14. We are forming a Homgeneous group with Normal VRS beneficiaries and super annuated pensioners. Thus clause 3 (2) of the 2005 Amendment Scheme is violative of Art.14.and should be scrapped. With the above thrustful arguments our senior counsel concluded the arguments and the Judges asked us to give written submissions before Wednesday the 5th of March.
Friends, I have given the picture of the court proceedings to you all, to that extent possible i could, and our only request is to pray God for the favorable result. The judgement may take a month or so as per the experience goes. Let us wait and pray Almighty and only Prayers can do wonders.
with regards
nagarajan
nisvrrea
