BHUBANESWAR: What Indian Railways proposes, it disposes too. The Railways decided in January that supervisors holding safety category posts should not be office-bearers of trade unions because their undivided attention must be on official responsibilities. By the end of the year, it has scrapped its own order.
The decision, taken on January 30, was based on the Railways’ principle of “Safety First” after a spurt in train mishaps rocked the country during 2016-17.
However, in a letter to all GMs of Railway Zones on Wednesday, the Railway Board said its January 30 letter should be treated as cancelled. Apprehension of legal entanglements and resistance from trade unions appear to have influenced the Railway Board’s decision to cancel its order.
When the Railways issued the letter, its decision was based on the fact that role of supervisors (engineers) must be critically watched and they should be sensitised about primacy of safety in their work. “In the wake of current situation, supervisors need to put in their best effort in order to ensure that the staff working under them are alert at all times. Supervisors have to be vigilant all the time and devote themselves fully to the onerous task of ensuring safety,” the Railway Board said.
It felt that those in safety category posts have to devote a good part of their time to additional responsibilities as members and office-bearers of recognised trade unions. “Due to this, it has been observed that the supervisors are hard-pressed for time and may not be able to give their undivided attention to their official duties,” the January 30 letter said.
However, the Board did not impose any restriction on these staff being enrolled as members of the union. It also set a March 31 deadline after which the supervisors in the erstwhile grade pay of `4,200 and above should not be office-bearers of a trade union. The deadline, though, was first shifted to June 30 before being moved to December 31.
The move to keep engineers free from trade union office duty was recommended by the Khanna Committee in 1998. In fact, three more committees - Kunzru, Wanchoo and Sikri - too had the same view because the panels felt that supervisors were the cutting-edge of management and should be debarred from joining unions.
The Rail Ministry had, however, felt that it was not possible to accept the recommendation due to legal implications. Besides, it required modification in trade union Act. The Task Force on Safety, constituted by the Ministry, submitted a report in January in which it recommended that supervisors should not be allowed to join trade unions but must be encouraged to form their own association to put forth their rights.
