Court issues notice in PIL against Tata firm - National News – News – MSN India - News

Court issues notice in PIL against Tata firm - National News – News – MSN India - News
Court issues notice in PIL against Tata firm
New Delhi: A lawsuit in the Supreme Court Thursday alleged dalits and tribals were being weeded out of leading international telecom service provider Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL), part of the Tata group that is seen as a model for corporate social responsibility.An apex court bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan issued notices to the VSNL management on a public interest lawsuit by the VSNL's dalit and tribal employees, alleging covert and overt bids by Tatas to weed them out from employment after sale of company's 45 percent share to the Tata group in Feb 2002.The bench, which also included Justice R.V. Raveendran, also issued notices to the Cabinet Secretary and the Department of Telecommunication on the petition, as the government still owns 26 percent stake in the company. In its petition to the apex court, an association of tribal and dalit employees alleged that after the privatisation of VSNL, its management has undertaken a policy decision to rid the firm of the dalit and tribal employees on the pretext of unsatisfactory professional performance. The petitioners alleged VSNL has been trying to sack them despite an undertaking to the government that after the sale of government shares, VSNL would continue to protect the interest of dalit, tribal and handicapped employees. In their plea, the affected employees of the VSNL alleged that even as they were being booted out and deprived of their earnings worth a few thousand rupees a month, the VSNL authorities "have been recruiting senior executives in the VSNL on obnoxiously high salaries to the tune of seven to eight millions a month." The employees said: "All these top honchos are being paid their salary from the same kitty of profit that they had earned for the VSNL by toiling for it during its existence as state enterprise between 1986 and 2002." They also contended that despite Tata being a majority stakeholder in the company, the government, owing to its own share of 26.12 percent and as the trustee of general public shares to the tune of 20 percent and those of Indian financial institutions to the tune of 10 percent roughly, the government has greater stake in VSNL.Source: IANS