MLCs support employees
THE UP Awas Evam Vikas Parishad authorities and members of its Karamchari Mahasangh seem to be on a collision course on the issue of dismissal of employees’ union president Chote Lal Verma.
Even as the employees’ union has threatened to proceed on strike if Verma was not reinstated by Friday, Housing Commissioner MAA Khan appears in no mood to relent. Not surprising therefore, the two rounds of negotiations between the union leaders and the Housing Commissioner have failed to broker a truce.
At the root of the problem is a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Verma against the Housing Board’s move to give up the land earmarked for its housing scheme on Sultanpur Road allegedly to favour a private real estate developer.
According to Khan, Verma violated the service conduct rules by moving the PIL on the issue. “The government had to take a stand on the issue.
There are 12 lakh government employees in the State. Just imagine if they too decide to act similarly,” he pointed out. On the issue of controversial land on Sultanpur Road, the Housing Commissioner was categorical, “Let the courts decide the issue once and for all, the Housing Board has already suffered enough because of this unwarranted controversy.”
An immediate end to the ongoing stalemate, however, appears unlikely as several MLCs including Om Prakash Sharma, Kishore Jain, SC Sharma, Panchanan Rai as also various leaders’ of coordination committee of the employees’ union lend support to the ongoing agitation on Wednesday.
{{/usCountry}}An immediate end to the ongoing stalemate, however, appears unlikely as several MLCs including Om Prakash Sharma, Kishore Jain, SC Sharma, Panchanan Rai as also various leaders’ of coordination committee of the employees’ union lend support to the ongoing agitation on Wednesday.
{{/usCountry}}Talking to Hindustan Times, Om Prakash Sharma said that Verma was sacked simply because he dared to raise his voice against the rampant corruption and challenged the State Government’s move to give prime land to the a real estate developer.
“Filing of a PIL by a government employee to safeguard the interest of his department in no way constitute violation of the service conduct rules,” he said.
Here it is pertinent to mention that similar PILs on the controversial land deal have been filed in the past too but the petitioners retracted in all such instances later.