The high court on Tuesday allowed an advocate to file a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking an order declaring the two-day bank strike that ended on Tuesday “unconstitutional”.
Advocate Subroto Mookherjee filed the PIL, following a nod from the division bench headed by Chief Justice Arun Mishra, seeking compensation for depositors who suffered because of the strike, especially the closure of ATMs.
This was the first time almost 99 per cent of ATMs were closed during a bank strike.
“The case is likely to come up for hearing in a couple of days,” a court official said.
The petitioner submitted that if the court dubbed the strike “unconstitutional”, it would prevent “irresponsible bank employees” from calling more strikes.
Most branches and ATMs of public banks remained closed to press for higher wages for bank employees. Private banks, too, joined the strike.
Bank officials said that of the handful of ATMs that were operational on the first day of the strike, most ran out of cash on Tuesday. The only operations that ran were Internet and mobile banking, which are mostly used to transfer funds and pay bills.
Moving the petition before the Chief Justice as well as Justice Joymalya Bagchi, the advocate submitted that account holders faced severe problems because of the strike, especially the closure of ATMs.
“Over eight lakh employees of about 50,000 branches of 27 nationalised banks across the country have joined the strike. More than 1 lakh ATMs were closed. Since banking is an essential service, the court should impose a ban on bank strikes,” the petitioner submitted.
“Because of the closure of ATMs, an account holder had to postpone his sister’s wedding that was scheduled for Monday. An emergency surgery could not be performed as relatives of the patient failed to raise money because of the strike. When the case will come up for hearing, I will cite many other incidents of harassment.”
Over the years, Mookherjee said, account holders have become reliant on ATMs. “The closure of ATMs has hit account holders hard.”
The strike was called by the United Forum of Bank Unions, comprising nine associations of employees of 27 nationalised banks. The forum had threatened to go on an indefinite strike if the two-day shutdown failed to yield results.
The PIL reads: “The Supreme Court had already declared bandh and strike illegal and in a recent order, Calcutta High Court had asked the state to pay compensation to bandh sufferers by collecting the amount from bandh callers. So Calcutta High Court should pass an order directing the striking employees to pay adequate compensation to account holders.”
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The strike was called for one month before information & essential guidelines were published in newspaper then how strike can be termed as unconstitutional
ReplyDeleteIf court of law and shri mookharji considers that bank's strike does hampers public harshly. It means that it is in itself is conclusive evidence that banking industry is not only basic necessity but also backbone of financial system of country, as such court of law should instruct government and iba that they should taks care that bankers shuld not be exploited to that extent which will make them to go on strike, and court of law should also ensure that bank employees shuld be paid equal wages that to of other imp. Public undertakings like railways, bsnl and central govt employees so as bankers can concerntrate only on public service and deprived from going on strike
ReplyDeleteExactly...............
DeleteAaj goa zone me union ki mitting hui mere branch me sare retired bank employees the sirf apni pension aur ann suvidha per bate karate rahe.mai bagal me hi bath kar 8 pm tak kaam karata raha new officer ki problem ko koi bhi na hi dekhana chahate hai aur na hi sunana.jo kal sari jimawari uthainge unki ye durdasa.akhir hum bhi insan hai koi masin nahi.
ReplyDeleteAren't the Bank employees citizens of this country?? What about the plight they suffering from the last one and half year?? Their wages should be revised from November,2012 but the negotiations with IBA resulted nothing but insult. There is nothing to be consider in this case as the strike call was intimated to the public well before and the sufficient technology products were being introduced and working well on the strike day(s) to serve the customers' needs.
ReplyDeleteHamari sarkar ho ya public ya media ya higher athorities sabhi banker ke khilaph hai.sabhi bankar gulam ki tarah hai.apane adhikar ke khilaph aawaj uthao to tum dosi.dosto jail se nikalana hai to surang banao.barana ye drama har settlement me chalti rahegi.aur banker ki halat bad se batter hote jayegi.
ReplyDelete