JACTTO-GEO protest continues

“This strike will happen throughout Tamil Nadu at the district headquarters. We are planning a rally outside Collector’s Office on Rajaji Salai.

We plan to block the road and continue the protest the following day. We plan to stay put at the Ezhilagam, where we have made arrangements to cook for the night. We will be staying throughout the night,” K Santhakumar, Convener of JACTO-GEO Chennai district.

When asked about the repercussions of the protest, he said, “The talks with the Chief Minister have failed. He had promised that our demands would be fulfilled by the end of this month. However, we want this in writing which the government has refused to do. We will continue our protests till our demands are met. The schools have received notices but nothing has been done against individual teachers. Nothing has been communicated to us directly.”

About the High Court order, he said, “The JACTO GEO leaders will be meeting the lawyers planning further course of action.”

The JACTO-GEO comprises over 80 associations but following the talks with the government, the umbrella organisation has split. While the larger section has withdrawn but there are a few associations who continue to protest. “The Chief Minister said that these decisions could not be made overnight.

He assured us that the demands will be met by the end of this month. If that fails, the employees will receive the arrears,” said P K Ilamaran, state president of Tamil Nadu teachers Association, indicating that they are not associated with the protest.

MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, on Monday, gave permission to file contempt of court petition against members of JACTO-GEO as they are still continuing their protests despite an interim ban. Petitioner, Sekaran, a lawyer from Madurai, in his PIL, had stated that members have announced protests (12 lakh are expected to participate) and road roko. This would affect functioning of schools. Though he had petitioned the Chief Secretary to ban the protests there was no reply and so the court should issue an interim stay on the protests, prayed the petitioner. However, on Monday, the counsel representing the petitioner said that the protesters are continuing their sit-in despite an interim ban on protests and hence prayed the court to initiate a suo motu contempt petition against the JACTO-GEO protesters but the judges refused. However, they had given permission for the petitioner to file another contempt petition against JACTO-GEO.