SCCL jobs back to square one

Hyderabad: Not long ago, the corridors of Singareni Collieries erupted in joy with the State government taking a favourable call on ‘Voluntary Retirement Scheme on Health Reasons’ to its existing employees after a gap of 15 years.

But, it appears to be a short lived joy with the High Court declaring the notification issued by the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) as violation of the Supreme Court order.

Hereditary jobs in Singareni have always been a bone of contention. This time it was no different either. Since the company banned the practice of providing jobs through hereditary basis to its employees in 2002, the employees have been at the loggerheads with the management demanding revival of these jobs.

Revoking the ban, the government has on November 4 issued circular allowing eligible employees to avail the facility. The circular envisaged revival of hereditary jobs only to the existing workers who seek to retire voluntarily on health grounds and aged between 48 and 59 years as on October 11, 2016, provided they satisfy the employment regulations of the company.

Against this backdrop, Satish Kumar, a resident of Godavari Khani filed a writ challenging the government’s notification. He contended that an employee who had two years service left and was medically unfit, are only eligible under the scheme.

The two-judge Bench in its verdict on Thursday ruled out appointment on compassionate grounds to the dependents of the healthy employees. Further it clarified that appointment is only permissible in case of death or disability of an employee.

On the other hand, the SCCL management has received about 7,514 applications seeking job under the scheme till date.

Stating that politically motivated decisions will never pay off, the CITU State General Secretary M Saibabu told The Hans India: “The High Court judgment is a slap on the face of the State government that tried to take political mileage by giving a leeway in the eligibility criteria instead of following the procedure the company was following hitherto.

The Singareni management would have discussed with the unions before issuing notification for the ‘Voluntary Retirement Scheme on Health Reasons’, he said, criticising the government for creating a chaotic situation that could stymie the functioning of the company.