The Centre on Tuesday cautioned Government employees and staffers of face consequences if they participate in any kind of protest or strike. The instructions issued by the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) to Secretaries of all Central Government departments prohibited government servants from participating in any form of strike, including mass casual leave, go-slow, sit-down etc.
The directives came in the wake of district-level rallies planned to be organised across the country on Tuesday by the National Joint Council of Action (NJCA) under the banner of ‘Joint Forum for Restoration of old pension scheme (OPS)’
“There is no statutory provision empowering the employees to go on strike. The Supreme Court has also agreed in several judgments that going on a strike is a grave misconduct under the conduct rules and that misconduct by the government employees is required to be dealt with in accordance with the law,” the order said.
Any employee going on strike in any form, including protest, would face the consequences which, besides deduction of wages, may also include appropriate disciplinary action, it said. “The central government employees under your ministry/departments may, therefore, be suitably informed of the aforesaid instructions under the conduct rules issued by this department and other regulations upheld by the Supreme court. This may be dissuaded from resorting to strike in any form including protest,” it asked all the central government departments.
Instructions may be issued not to sanction Casual Leave or other kind of leave to employees if applied for, during the period of the proposed protest/strike and ensure that the willing employees are allowed hindrance free entry into the office premises, the order said.