VIJAYAWADA: A retired professor from Visakhapatnam, Nadendla Sambasiva Rao, filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Friday appealing to the latter to declare the strike notice issued by AP government employees as “anti-constitutional and illegal”.
In his petition, the retired professor contended that the government employees going on strike is not just anti-constitutional, but also against the service rules. He said in the TK Rangarajan vs Tamil Nadu government case in 2003, the Supreme Court, in its verdict, made it clear that government employees cannot go on strike and that such an act is illegal. He urged the High Court to direct the government to initiate measures to prevent it.
Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary (Finance), Principal Secretary (Revenue), PRC Struggle Committee, APNGO general secretary, AP Secretariat Employees Association general secretary, AP Revenue Services Association general secretary, Federation of Teachers Organisation general secretary were made respondents in the case.
The petitioner argued that the PRC struggle committee issuing strike notice during the third wave of Covid when the state was reporting nearly 15,000 new cases with a positivity rate of 30 per cent, is totally illogical and nothing but putting people’s life in danger. “Going on strike in this hour is nothing but denying essential services to people, which is more dangerous,” he asserted.
Prof Rao said the strike of the employees will have a severe impact on the people’s life and the government’s day-to-day administration. “Lakhs of employees going on strike enmasse will adversely impact the administration. They should not be allowed to do it. Treasury employees are also dragging their feet in uploading and updating salaries, which will seriously create problems for employees and contract staff. By not taking any action against them, the government too seems to have compromised the public interest,” he argued.