HC holds retrenchment of Khadi Board staff illegal

Chennai, Apr 26 (UNI) Madras High Court today held illegal the Tamil Nadu Government Order retrenching 862 employees of the State Khadi and Village Industries Board.

A Division Bench comprising Mr Justice P Sathasivam and Mr Justice J A K Sampath Kumar passed the order on a batch of petitions filed by the employees challenging the board deciding to retrench 862 staff including the petitioners, who were permanent employees of the board.

They said employees who had approached the court and others covered by the GO of November 28, 2003, were entitled to continue in service.

The bench said employees ousted by the GO and not in service till this date were not entitled to wages for the period, but the whole period should be accounted for all other service benefits. Staff retrenched by the GO should be taken into service in four weeks.

The petitioners said employees were appointed through employment exchanges and had put in ten years continuous service. Their services were regularised. While so, the GO was issued on November 28, 2003, on the board's budget estimate for 2003-2004. The Government approved the revised estimate subject to the condition that temporary staff of the trading and non-trading wing, numbering 862, should be retrenched by making a one-time payment of Rs four crore. Following this, the board on March 12, 2004 issued proceedings that as a measure of staff cost reduction, 862 posts were abolished. They would be retrenched.

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