NEW DELHI: The Society of Employees and Entrepreneurs of the Delhi State Industrial Development Corporation (DSIDC) Ltd. has served a legal notice on the Delhi Government for "arbitrarily" rejecting its proposal for a pension scheme on the pattern of the Central Government employees.

Serving the notice under Section 80 of the Code of Civil Procedure, O.P. Dhingra, president of the organisation, through his counsel B.R. Seth stated that DSIDC had forwarded the proposal for the pension scheme to the Delhi Government after its approval by DSIDC's Board of Directors in 1998 but the Finance Department of the State Government had rejected it.

However, the Delhi Agriculture Marketing Board's (DAMB) proposal for the same had been approved for its and the employees of Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC), which clearly showed the bias of the State Government against the DSIDC employees, the notice alleged.

The Government had rejected the proposal referring to instructions in a letter of the Government of India dated 16-3-200 regarding the pension scheme in autonomous bodies, the notice said.

DSIDC is not an autonomous body as opined by the Department of Industries of the State Government, the notice clarified. It further stated that DSIDC had not asked for any financial or budgetary support for introduction of the above-mentioned scheme, as it would be a self-financing one, and there would be no financial burden on the city Government.

Only the mandatory approval of the State Government is required for introduction of the scheme, the notice said.

The Legal Consultant of DSIDC had twice opined that it might not be proper and legally justifiable to deny the facility to the DSIDC employees under Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution, as the Delhi Government had already allowed its two undertakings to introduce the pension scheme, the notice claimed.

The client had given him clear instructions to initiate legal proceedings against the State Govt., if the latter failed to give its approval to its proposal within 70 days from the date of receipt of the notice, Mr. Seth said.

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