EC work: LIC field workers move HC for protection of their service conditions

The Calcutta High Court on Friday directed the Election Commission and LIC to file reports on a prayer by its field workers that their service conditions for fulfilling targets be not affected for poll-related work they are doing for the commission.

The Calcutta High Court on Friday directed the Election Commission and LIC to file reports on a prayer by its field workers that their service conditions for fulfilling targets be not affected for poll-related work they are doing for the commission. The petitioner, stating that they are employees of the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India, stated that, as per the direction of the Election Commission, they have been deployed for poll-related work from time to time. Petitioner National Federation of Insurance Field Workers of India, through their lawyer, stated before the court of Justice Krishna Rao that they apprehend that their service in the company will be affected if they are engaged in election-related work. The court said that to adjudicate the issue, affidavits are required to be filed by LIC as well as the ECI. Justice Rao asked why employees' service will be affected when they are being sent for election-related work of the EC. The court directed the LIC and the EC to file their reports in the form of affidavits within two weeks. The petitioner was given liberty to file their exception to the reports within a week thereafter. The matter will be heard again on February 26, the court directed. Special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is underway in West Bengal, where assembly elections are to be held in a few months. Petitioner's lawyer Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya stated before the court that they are in a fix since on the one hand they have to discharge the duty assigned by the ECI, while at the same time their service condition says that if they cannot fulfil their target, then they will be penalised. He submitted that owing to the EC duty, they have been away from their insurance company work for three months. It was prayed that a direction be given by the court that discharging their duties for the EC will not affect their service condition in the LIC. Bhattacharya prayed that the EC should ensure that, because of discharging their duties with the constitutional authority, the period should not be counted against them for not securing business as targeted. The counsel for the EC stated before the court that some employees have been requisitioned for selected days. The counsel for the LIC submitted that 1,210 employees of the insurance company have been requisitioned. He stated that while the company has to let its employees work for the EC as requisitioned, it was, on the other hand, losing its business.

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