Madras High Court stays strike by Neyveli employees

The strike was expected to affect the operations of the company and reduce the power supply to various states, including TN

The Madras High Court on Wednesday passed an interim stay restraining employee unions in Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) from going on strike from tonight or from any day thereafter. This comes at a time when around 16 unions in NLC were planning to go on an indefinite strike from tonight against the Union Government's move to divest five per cent stake in the company.

According to sources, NLC moved the high court against the strike arguing that it would affect the lives of the public since the company was supplying power to various states and a strike could affect the power supply.

"Yes, the court has issued a stay order. NLC is a public utility and any issue in its operations would affect the public. What I heard is that the court has advised the unions from engaging in strike based on this," said B Surender Mohan, chairman-cum-managing director of NLC.

However, major employee unions said they had not received any information on the high court order so far (till 6 pm) and would come up with a response once they gets the details of the order.

"We have not received any order till now," said S Rajavannian, general secretary, NLC Labour Progressive Federation, which is backed by the political party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).

"We can respond only after we get the order," said R Udayakumar, secretary, Anna Workers and Staff Union, which is affiliated to All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). All the unions together formed a joint action council and were planning to go on a strike from Wednesday night.

The strike was expected to affect the operations of the company and reduce the power supply to various states, including Tamil Nadu where the company has a major share of supply.

NLC has a capacity to generate 2,490-Mw at Neyveli and another 250-Mw at Barsingsar in Rajasthan. The plant currently is supplying around 1,100-Mw to Tamil Nadu alone and the remaining to neighbouring states. Besides, it is also supplying lignite to independent power producers (IPPs).

Earlier, an official said the strike could significantly reduce the operations of the company since a portion of the executive staff was also expected to join the strike. "If the unions would go on a strike as indicated, there would definitely be a decrease in our production, but it would not be zero," he said.

On Tuesday, the ruling AIADMK and various workers' unions organised protests against the proposed divestment. "NLC has paid around Rs 1,292 crore as tax and dividend to the central government in 2012-13.

The company has been paying dividend for the past 15-20 years. But, the government is trying to divest the company, which would fetch them around Rs 466 crore," said Rajavanian.

Earlier, Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa in a letter to the Prime Minister proposed to buy the Centre's stake in NLC that it expects to offer to the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (Tidco), State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (Sipcot) and Tamil Nadu Industrial Investment Corporation.