Journalist Body Urges Venkaiah Naidu To Stop Dismissal Of 37 RS TV Employees

NEW DELHI || Indian Federation of Working Journalists (IFWJ) has appealed to the Vice President of India and the Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha M Venkaiah Naidu to immediately intervene to stop the removal of 37 employees of the Rajya Sabha TV without even adhering to the due process of law.

It appears that the permission for the sudden retrenchment of the employees has been obtained from you by the wily officers by keeping your august office in dark, it said in a statement issued on Tuesday.

It is highly regrettable that the laid-off employees were not given any mandatory notice and no reasons, whatsoever, were given for their removal.

It is all the more condemnable that these employees have been removed at a time when the country is facing an unprecedented crisis of unemployment in the wake of Corona pandemic. Needless to tell that these employees have rendered commendable services as a Corona warrior, the statement went on to note.

The IFWJ President BV Mallikarjunaiah and the Secretary-General Parmanand Pandey have said that the Rajya Sabha, being the upper house of the lawmakers, must ensure that the employment laws are not thrown to the wind as it has been done in the instant case.

The manner in which the employees have been guillotined puts the august offices of the Chairman and the Vice-Chairman, who himself has been a veteran journalist, into a poor light. The IFWJ has urged that all employees should be retained with the new amalgamated set up of the Rajya Sabha with the Lok Sabha TV.

The IFWJ has also made it clear that if the justice is not done to these dismissed employees it will have to take up the matter to the court of law to help them in getting their legitimate rights.