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Thomas K Thomas

New Delhi, Aug. 31 After keeping the issue on the back burner for three years, the Government has issued fresh ultimatum to the Indian Telecom Service officers of BSNL and MTNL.

They have been told to either get permanently absorbed in the two PSUs or move to Department of Telecom where they could be put in the excess pool. In a notice issued on August 26, the Ministry of Communication and IT has asked the officers to make their decision by October 16.

There are about 2,000 ITS officers across the country working on deputation in BSNL, MTNL, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Department of Posts and Department of Telecom. A majority of these officers are managing the operations of BSNL.

The Indian Telecom Service Association (ITSA) said that the latest notice was a breach of trust as the compensation being offered was different from what was agreed upon by the Government earlier.

The issue of absorption of these technical officers has been hanging fire since 2005. At the time of formation of BSNL on October 1, 2000, around 400,000 employees were transferred on deemed deputation to BSNL and MTNL for a period up to five years.

The period of deemed deputation ended on September 30, 2005.

So far, Group B, C and D officers totalling about 3,98,000 have been absorbed in these two organisations. The Group A officers were given the option to be absorbed in BSNL or MTNL or to revert to the Government by October 15, 2005. The ITS officers then decided to defy the deadline set by the Government.

The issue had flared up so much that the DoT had to request the army to be on stand by to run BSNL’s operations in case the officers went on a strike. The crisis was defused after the High Court intervened and the Government constituted a committee to work out the modalities.

When contacted Mr S.C. Sharma, General Secretary, ITSA, told Business Line “The compensation package being offered to us now is worse than what was given to us in 2005. The Government had agreed to implement the suggestions of a committee that was formed to resolve this issue. We had also agreed to the committee’s report. However, what is being offered to us is totally different from what the Government had earlier agreed upon,”

He added that though the officers may not confront the Government as in 2005, ITSA will take the fresh notice to the High Court, which is scheduled to take the up the case on September 5.

More Stories on : Telecommunications | Human Resources | Regulatory Bodies & Rulings

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