GIVING some ray of hope for hundreds of workers in, HMT, the
Uttarakhand High Court recently asked the Centre to explore the possibilities
of reviving HMT and directed the management of the PSU that was once termed as
the timekeeper of the nation, which has stopped production to pay all pending
wages to its employees within two weeks.
The order was passed by Justice Rajeev Sharma on a plea
seeking modification of an earlier order of the...
high court which said that all dues and pending wages of the employees must be paid.
high court which said that all dues and pending wages of the employees must be paid.
The petitioners GMT Employees Union told the court that the
central government has already released fund for the payment of wages of the
employees and despite the money being with the management it is asking for
modification of the order of payment.
It also produced a letter written by a central government
official in support of their argument which says money has been released to the
company to enable it to make the payment of pending wages.
Justice Sharma took a strict view of the matter and asked
the central government to explore all possibilities to revive the factory and
directed the HMT management to pay all the pending and wages to its employees
within two weeks.
Following the order, HMT management withdrew its application
for modification, counsel for the petitioners Kartikey Hari Gupta said.
Earlier, union ministry of Heavy Industries and Public
Enterprises released the funds for salary of 146 HMT employees of its factory
located at Ranibagh near Haldwani. A letter has been sent to the Prime Minister
by them informing that they have not getting their salaries since January 2016.
After the Central government in January 2016 decided to
close three sick units of HMT including HMT watches, employees in the HMT
factory located at Ranibagh in Kumaon decided not to give
Along with HMT watches, HMT Chinar Watches and HMT Bearings
were also shut down. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet
Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in
January 2016 by offering an "attractive" voluntary retirement scheme
to the employees as per 2007 pay scales. Amount of Rs 427.48 crore had also
been sanctioned for the employees.
Incorporated in 1953 by the Government of India as a Machine
Tool manufacturing company, HMT over the years diversified into watches, tractors,
printing machinery, metal forming presses, die casting and plastic processing machinery,
CNC systems and bearings.
Today, HMT comprises five subsidiaries under the ambit of a holding
company, which also manages the tractors business directly.
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