The DMRC assured the court that they were "ready and willing" to resolve the disputes with the workers.
The Delhi High Court on Friday restrained Metro rail's non-executive employees from going on strike to keep the Capital's lifeline pulsing for lakhs of commuters, who would be "greatly inconvenienced" if the workforce of the public service downed tools.
The court was hearing a writ petition filed by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) after its 9,000- strong workforce of non-executive employees — train operators, maintenance staff, station controllers, technicians — threatened the industrial action from Saturday midnight to demand revision in pay scale, payment of arrears, and formation of a union among other things.
The court order read: "Commuters would be greatly inconvenienced... It also appears that the staff does not appear to be justified since sufficient notice has not been given to the petitioner [DMRC] and the conciliation proceedings are still in progress. I am inclined to grant ad-interim relief as sought in the application… The respondents are restrained from going on strike on June 30."
The DMRC assured the court that they were "ready and willing" to resolve the disputes with the workers. The court was moved on the sidelines of talks between the rail body, its staff council and the Labour Commissioner, which remained inconclusive.
The rail corporation claimed it had reached a settlement with the staff council in July last year. But the employees, who have been holding sit-ins at different Metro stations for the past few days over their unmet demands, claimed that DMRC, which had assured them their demands would be met, went back on its word.
Mahavir Prasad, general secretary of the rail's non-executive workers' union, claimed that while DMRC has provisions to promote them after five years, they have been working in the same post for 10 years.
Big Relief
If the 9,000-strong non-executive staff of Delhi Metro had gone on a strike, as many as 25 lakh daily commuters would have been stranded across the city.
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