The Himachal Pradesh High Court today directed Shongtong Karcham Hydel Project Worker’s Union to call off the strike forthwith. The division bench comprising Chief Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir and Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan passed this judgment on a petition filed by Shongtong Karcham Hydel Project Worker’s Union.
The Petitioner directed the Managing Director H.P. Power Corporation, General Manager Shongtong Hydel Project and Patel Engineering Limited to ensure that the benefit of various labour law legislations and safety measures including P.F. are extended and are available within a period of three months to its employees.
The Petitioner alleged that 450 MW Shongtong Hydel Project was started by Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation at Pawari in Kinnaur district and a large numbers of workers were engaged in the construction activities of the said project. The Corporation handed over the work of the project to the Patel Engineering Limited, who further engaged various sub contractors. It was also alleged in the petition that there were consistent and regular violation of various labour laws.
There was unrest among the workers that they were not getting their dues but finally it was aggravated when the workers did not get their salaries for the month of December 2015 to February 2016 and thus, on this basis the workers submitted a demand charter to the employers with copies to the Labour Officer-cum-Conciliation Officer as well as Regional Provident Fund Commissioner.
In furtherance of this demand charter, the Labour Officer-cum-Conciliation Officer arranged a meeting on Mar 13, 2016 on which it was agreed upon that the salaries of three and half months would be paid to the workers within two days and for rest of demands further conciliation meeting was to be held on March 17, 2016. But when the salary was not paid to the workers within the prescribed period, the workers went on strike on the same day.
