CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Agriculture University in Coimbatore was directed by the Madras High Court to follow the five-day-a-week system in respect of its permanent mazdoor workers.
“However, it is open to the university to extract work from these mazdoors on need basis on declared holidays - Saturdays and Sundays. In lieu thereof, all these mazdoors/employees shall be permitted to avail compensatory leave as allowable to other employees,” the judge said.
Passing orders on a writ petition from the TN Agriculture University Worker’s Union, the judge quashed a circular issued by the university in 2003, making it compulsory for the mazdoors, who are permanent in nature, also to work for 6 days a week.
The five-day-a-week system shall be adopted immediately and accordingly their compensatory leave shall also be regulated and be permitted. “It is made clear that the system of five days a week or six days a week working days, compensatory holidays etc., will in no way be made applicable to casual employees/daily rated wage employees, who are not getting wages on monthly basis by way of time scale of pay. Insofar as such kind of casual and daily rated wages employees, they shall be paid daily rated wages based on the minimum wages to be fixed by the university on a par with the government rates made from time to time”, the judge added.