Retired bus driver’s letter treated as PIL in Madras HC

An 83-year-old retired driver’s impassioned letter on the plight of former Tamil Nadu Transport Corporation employees, whose retirement benefits were yet to be settled, was on Friday taken up as a PIL by the Madras High Court’s Bench here.

Treating a postcard sent by R Mayandi Servai as a public interest litigation, a bench comprising Justices M V Muralidaran and N Seshasayee sought the state government’s reply and posted the matter to May 30.

Incidentally, it was the same bench, which had asked the government to invoke ESMA against transport corporation employees who went on an indefinite strike earlier this month on this and other issues.

“Should we and our family members die without receiving the money due to us?” asked Mayandi Servai urging the court to take effective and emergent steps to settle their dues. He also expressed anguish over the court’s May 16 directive asking the government to invoke ESMA against the striking employees to ensure regular services of public transport if they did not call off the agitation. The court gave the direction on a PIL against the strike by 10 trade unions representing the employees. 

How can Acts like (ESMA) Essential Services Maintenance Act be used when the retired people and their families were starving and struggling hard due to non-payment of their retirement benefits, Mayandi Servai asked.

After the court directive, the employees had withdrawn their three-day old stir on May 16. They reached an agreement with the government which assured them immediate disbursement of Rs 1,250 crore towards clearing various pending dues, besides settling dues of pensioners by September.  

Mayandi Servai said, “The government has not settled even 50 per cent of what is due to us.... Retirement benefits to the tune of Rs 1,700 crore had not been settled. Besides the money deducted from our salary for LIC pension scheme had not been settled. That will come to Rs 4,346 crore,” he claimed.

He urged the court to take “effective and emergent steps to settle the dues of the struggling employees.” 

The elderly man alleged that despite several orders of the high court to settle the retirement benefits of the workers, the government had not taken any steps. When the plight of the serving and retired workers was so bad 

how can the court have the heart to warn them of action under ESMA, he questioned.