Report not for pre-empting law on pvt sector quota: CII

Chennai, July 28: The captains of Indian industry today asserted that the recommendations made in the task force report submitted to the Prime Minister, was not aimed at pre-empting the government's move to introduce reservation in private sector.

Releasing the Task Force Report prepared jointly by the CII and Assocham, CII President and Ashok Leyland Managing Director R Seshasayee made it clear the industry was totally against reservaton. But the report was not aimed at pre-empting any legislation.

''It is the wisdom of the government and the prerogative of Parliament to legislate it,'' he told a press conference on the sidelines of the CII's National Council meeting.

Observing the government's move to bring in legislation for reservation would be counter-productive and affect competitiveness, Mr Seshasayee said it was not the right way to achieve the objective of including SC and STs in the mainstream.

''It is not an issue between the government and the industry.

Both have the same objective to bring up SC/ST people to the higher echeleons of the industry by providing good training, good education and equal opportunity to compete and come up on merit,'' he added.

''We are sharpening ourselves towards this. Our's is the most viable and successful route. We hope the government and Parliament will agree with our views,'' he said.

Task Force Head and Tata Sons Director J J Irani, who was also present, said the chances of government enacting a legislation had receded.

The report ''Proposed concrete steps by Indian industry on affirmative action for SCs and STs'' was submitted to the Prime Minister and the meeting with him was ''very satisfactory', he added.

Apart from Mr Seshasayee and Mr Irani, other captains of the industry who were present at the meeting included Mr Sunil Mittal, Mr Anil Agarwal and Mr K L Chugh who co-authored the report along with Mr Irani.

Among the initiatives to be taken by the industry envisaged in the report included a code of conduct to encourage greater participation of SCs and STs in employment, massive training for better employability as well as mentoring for creating entrepreneurs belonging to these commuities. As part of this exercise, the CII would set up a council to coordinate these efforts by its member companies and appoint an Ombudsman to look into the observance of code, which Mr Seshasayee and Mr Irani said would not be enforced by force or legislation.

''It is purely voluntarily. We hope memeber companies will abide by it and achieve tangible results from 2007 onwards before fixing any quantitative targets for the year,'' they added.

Mr Seshasayee said the report stated a cohesive and integrated society would foster including development, growth and competitiveness.

Stating that continued economic growth was critical to the uplift of SCs and STs, he said the private industry was against any legislation that would affect its freedom of choice in employment.

''Competitiveness of Indian industry must remain top priority.

At the same time competitiveness would be enhanced by participation of all sections of society in economic activity,'' he added.

UNI