TATA TO WAGE ARREARS

The Delhi High Court dismissed a plea of a section of Indian Airlines employees regarding unpaid wage arrears of Rs 208 crore. If disinvestment takes this route, will the prime State policy be in trouble?

- Sanjay Raman Sinha

IN a judgment that brings into question the whole process of disinvestment, something dear to this government, the Delhi High Court refused to entertain a petition by the Indian Airlines Officers Association (IAOA) seeking pay and allowance arrears from Air India, with which it merged in 2007. The Court said Air India had ceased to be a government-controlled company and therefore, the plea was untenable. IAOA had sought arrears of pay and allowances from January 1, 1997, to July 31, 2006, to the tune of Rs 118 crore, though the total arrears which include two other associations is Rs 208 crore.

Justice Jyoti Singh said: "It is an admitted position that during the pendency of the present writ petition, on 27.01.2022, 100 percent shareholding of Air India has been acquired by M/s. Talace Pvt. Ltd. and Air India have ceased to be Government controlled companies, and are no longer amenable to the writ jurisdiction of this Court.... The writ petition cannot be entertained."

Further, the counsel for Air India said it had been privatised and the entire shareholding of the Government of India had been transferred to a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Sons Pvt. Ltd and, therefore, the petition cannot lie under Article 226 of the Constitution as Air India was no longer a public body.

This judgment raises serious questions about the entire disinvestment process of the government and the liabilities of a public sector company which has been bought by a private entity. Do the dues die a natural death or is the private entity liable to shoulder them?

The disinvestment of Air India left a certain group of employees from the erstwhile Indian Airlines in the lurch. The Court judgment has disheartened them further. The disinvestment deal of AI was completed in January 2022 after a long drawn out, two-year process, following which it was bought over by the Tatas.