297 retrenched staff of PTI resume duties

New Delhi: All the 297 illegally retrenched employees of PTI resumed duty at 37 different PTI Centres all over the country on Wednesday, following the ad interim stay on their retrenchment granted by the Delhi High Court yesterday.

The employees resumed duty in a spirit of renewed solidarity and appreciated the PTI management's gesture of not unnecessarily obstructing their resumption of duties. The Delhi High Court had stayed impugned order of the PTI management, retrenching 297 employees across the country on September 29, 2018.

In the 40-page order passed by Justice C Hari Shankar of the Delhi High Court in the WP filed by the Federation of PTI Employees' Unions :

1.The court has upheld that a prima facie case of violation of various provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act,1947, has been made out.

2. The order has held that the balance of convenience was in favour of the retrenched employees.

3. The court has held that irreparable harm would be caused to the employees if the retrenchments were not stayed.

4. The court has held that prima fade a case had been made out that the activities of PTI bore a 'public character' and, that therefore, a Writ Petition would lie against the company.

5. In view of the above reasons, the court has stayed the Notice dated 29 September 2018 as well as the individual notices of retrenchment served on 297 employees till the final disposal of the WP.