KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Friday directed the Kerala Police to provide protection to the employees of 568 branches of Muthoot Finance Ltd as well as its regional offices across the state. The court also directed the Muthoot Finance managing director and representatives of the unions to appear before the Labour Commissioner who shall hold a conciliation meeting in Ernakulam. Justice A Muhammed Mustaque held that the respective branch managers of the company should provide details of employees, who are willing to attend duties to the Station House Officer concerned and upon receiving the details, the police should provide adequate protection to them.
The court made it clear that the police should ensure that no untoward incident occurs and the employees who are willing to attend duties are not prevented from doing so. The court issued the order on a petition filed by George Alexander, MD of Muthoot Finance, seeking police protection. Senior advocate George Poonthottam, counsel for the petitioner, submitted that the company has more than 800 branches with a market share of Rs 3,000 crore in the state.
The company faced several strikes at the instance of the Non-Banking and Private Finance Employees Association (CITU) in the past four years. As a consequence of the inter mittent strikes, which had affected the interest of the customers, the company’s business share declined resulted in the closure of some branches. Now, the number of branches has come down and there are only 568 branches in the state. He also pointed out that the petitioner was attacked by CITU workers who pelted his car with stones, endangering his life. Government Pleader P P Thajudeen submitted that though the Labour Commissioner had called conciliation meetings twice, the managing director was not ready to attend.
The police are providing adequate protection as ordered by the court to ensure law and order. The court said it cannot ignore the cause raised by the employees. The petitioner is one of the largest companies in financial business. It has 3,000 branches all over the country and more than 2,500 employees in the state. The court should not turn a Nelson’s eye to the employees working under the company. The court held that a congenial atmosphere should be created in the company where the employees could ventilate their grievances.
If the petitioner is compelled to close down the unit on account of financial viability, it is open to the company to find out an alternative to accommodate such employees. It is possible only when there is a platform to thrash out the differences. Hence, it is appropriate that the Labour Commissioner initiates conciliation talks. The managing director, representatives of the employees’ association and CITU agreed to appear before the commissioner on Tuesday. The court also appointed Liji J Vadakkedom as the Advocate Observer of the conciliation meeting.