‘Steps taken to maintain 108 service’

A submission in this regard had come about before the first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice R Mahadevan before whom a PIL moved by S Patrick of Egmore had come up for hearing. The PIL was based on media reports that ambulance employees had resolved to stay off work on Diwali day over salary and bonus issues. 

Interestingly, the bench refrained from passing any orders after the submission was given as this aspect has been surfacing for almost the third year in a row during Deepavali. In fact, the bench while disposing the plea remarked that this has been happening every year and merely said “Following earlier order this petition is disposed of.”

Last year, disposing a similar PIL filed by V Meganathan, the bench recorded the government pleader’s statement that conciliation proceedings were going on with employees, and that under Section 22 (i)(d) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, there could be no strike during the pendency of conciliation proceedings. 

Ambulance was a public utility service and if there was any breach of the statutory provision, the strike would be declared illegal and the government would take appropriate action to ensure that services were maintained, he said. Noting that no directions were required in view of the government pleader’s assurance in court, the judges then had held that It appears to be becoming an annual event on the anvil of Diwali.

It may be noted that ‘108’ ambulance crew had staged a demonstration recently saying that they were treated like bonded labourers by the Hyderabad-based GVK EMRI (Emergency Management and Research institute) denying annual increment and basic facilities.

The staff had claimed that while the Tamil Nadu Health Systems Project (TNHSP), which had launched the ambulance service in association with the GVK EMRI, had given funds for providing an annual increment of Rs. 2,000 per worker, to be paid in April, the private firm passed on only Rs. 600.