Uttarakhand HC asks govt to act tough against employees going illegally on strike

Dehradun, August 31: Taking a tough stance against indiscriminate strikes in the state, the Uttarakhand High Court has directed the state to prohibit such strikes in certain departments like that of education, public health, transport service, public works department, irrigation, and revenue.

 

The court also directed the state to consider invoking the ‘No Work No Pay’ principle in the larger public interest.

The division bench of Acting Chief Justice Rajiv Sharma and Justice Manoj Tiwari held that "strike causes inconvenience to the general public at large. The indiscriminate strikes impede the growth of the state. Thousands and thousands of persons are put to inconvenience during the period of strikes."

The state government has been directed to constitute Redressal Grievance Committees presided over by the secretary or head of the department of the respective department with one nominee of the recognized association to address the genuine grievance(s) of the employees, within eight weeks from today. This Committee shall meet after every 3 months.

The State of Uttarakhand has adopted the Uttar Pradesh (Recognition of Service Associations) Rules, 1979 entirely. The court said that according to the said rules since employees have been given a right to form federations and confederations, they have a duty to maintain essential services.