SC’s ruling on overtime shows differences among govt staff

Court said staff have facilities that labourers don’t

By Siddhi Chauhan

Government employees across the country seem divided over the Supreme Court’s ruling that they cannot claim pay for working beyond office hours.

On April 19, a division bench of V. Ramasubramanian and Pankaj Mittal ruled that government employees cannot claim overtime allowance as per the Factories Act, 1948.

As per the judgment, government employees are expected to place themselves at the disposal of government according to the Rule 11 of the Fundamental Rules and Supplementary Rules.

Usha Singh, a professor in a government college, informed The Observer: “If we are working overtime, then we should receive the pay we deserve. Be it a government employee or a private employee, both of them should demand overtime charges. It is acceptable in case a person is asked to stay back for one time in a month. But in the case where overtime becomes a regular thing, then it is not, and should not be, acceptable. Already an employee works 6 to 7 hours a day. If they are asked to do overtime, they should be paid accordingly for work they do.”

She termed this exploitation of employees.

Sangamesh E.G., a teacher at Butti Basaveshwara Government School, Kushtagi, said it is not right. “Our salary is so low when compared to the work that we do. On top of that, if we are not paid for overtime work, we will end up with nothing. The salary that we receive is not according to the work that we do. We should receive overtime allowance, that’s our right.”

The Bench stated that government employees receive more benefit when compared to labourers. By providing this, they will “get the best of both the worlds” in case of employees.

While many people feel that not providing overtime payment

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is a violation of rights, there are people who have a contradictory opinion about the pay.

Karm Mitra, who works at the Central Bank of India, informed The Observer: “I agree with the Supreme Court. As per the Factories Act,1948, government employees do not directly belong to it. It is right to say that the facilities provided to laborers are way less when compared to the facilities provided to government employees.”

Asked about facilities provided to government employees, he said: “Government employees are provided with many facilities, including LTC claim, medical facilities and conveyance allowance. Being a government employee, I can say that in India, labourers are paid less. The salary that they get is very less when compared to the work that they do. Whereas the government employees not only get a good salary but they also get various facilities that are not provided to labourers.”

The Bench was hearing a dispute between the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India and its employees regarding provision of overtime allowance to the employees. siddhi.c@iijnm.org