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JIPMER staff stage protest

— Photo: C. Venkatachalapathy

IN SUPPORT OF THEIR DEMANDs: JIPMER employees stage a protest in Puducherry on Thursday.

PUDUCHERRY: Employees of Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) resorted to a three-hour protest on Thursday expressing disappointment over the JIPMER Bill 2007 which was passed in the Rajya Sabha on April 23.

According to the JIPMER Staff Struggle Committee, the Bill had incorporated three of their four demands which were continuance of free treatment for patients, reservation in medical seats for students of Puducherry and retaining the existing medical fee structure.

However, the demand to retain the employees of JIPMER as Central government staff had not been reflected in the Bill.

“We wanted the existing employees of JIPMER to continue in the autonomous institute with the same terms and conditions, rules and regulations as applicable to the Central government employees irrespective of whether they opt for the autonomous institute or not. This was agreed upon during the discussion with the officials of the Union Health Ministry on April 18 but it has not been reflected in the draft amendment,” General Secretary of JIPMER Anti-Autonomy People’s Action Committee (JAAPAC) C.H. Balamohanan said.

The crux of the problem seems to lie in Clause 28 (1) and 28 (2) of the Bill. It says the same service conditions as applicable to the employees of JIPMER would be applicable to them in the autonomous institution for a period of one year from the date of commencement of Act or unless they opt not to be employees of the institute within the said period of one year.

The draft amendment added – “or until his tenure, remuneration or other terms and conditions of service are duly altered by the regulation.”

“If the employees do not opt for autonomous institution after a year, there would be transferred to other Central government institutions,” General Secretary of JIPMER Staff Struggle Committee R. Arochiamkalaimathi said.

The one-year time was given to allow employees to reconcile with the new regulations of the autonomous institution, Mr. Balamohanan said, adding, “We are in the dark now without the terms of the autonomous institution being stipulated. The one year should not start from the date of commencement of Act but from the time of notification of rules and regulations of the autonomous institution.”

In fact, the Parliamentary Standing Committee had recommended the same time frame, he added.

“This protest is to call the attention of Members of Parliament and government that JIPMER employees cannot be cheated. A high-level committee had agreed to our points and they need to abide by that. It should be agreed to pass the Bill in the Lok Sabha with the amendment that existing JIPMER employees should continue with the status until their tenure,” Mr. Balamohanan said.

President of the Struggle Committee S. Dakshinamurthy said the Union government should give them salary for the 22-day strike, withdraw all cases against employees and set up a committee to look into their grievances.

The employees would decide on their next plan of action after a meeting of the struggle committee.

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