Bring striking staff back to duty or invoke ESMA: High Court to government

DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand High Court today directed the state government to bring agitating ministerial employees back to duty and make alternative arrangements under ESMA, which gives police the right to arrest without a warrant, if they do not do so.

Hearing a PIL against the prolonged stir by ministerial employees in the state, a division bench of Uttarakhand High Court comprising acting Chief Justice V K Bisht and Justice U C Dhyani directed the state government to see that employees striking for the past 40 days return to work.

The high court also asked the state government to invoke Essenstial Services Maintenace Act (ESMA) and make alternative arrangements if the employees refuse to return to duty immediately, petitioner Mahesh Pant, a lawyer himself said on phone from Nainital where the high court is based.

The high court has also asked the state government to cut the salaries of the striking employees for the period of the strike under 'no work no pay', Pant said.

Setting November 5 as the next date for hearing the case, the high court has asked the state government to submit its ATR to the court by that date.

In his PIL, the petitioner had said the prolonged stir by the ministerial employees had badly affected work in government offices.