Decision To Corporatise Ordnance Factories Is Illegal, Unconstitutional And Bad In Eyes Of Law – Say AIDEF, INDWF & BPMS To EGOM

After submitting thousands of signed pledge to Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister and Chairman of the EGOM for corporatization of Ordnance Factories, the Federations have now submitted a protest letter against violation of conciliation settlement reached between MoD and Federations on 09/10/2020 in the presence of CLC(C). www.indianpsu.com accessed a copy of the joint letter issued by the three Defence Employees Federations to the Defence Minister and to the five other Ministers who are members of the EGOM and Secretary(DP) and the CLC(C).  The Federations are furious in their letter and expressed their disappointment that the alternative proposals asked by the Secretary(DP) from the Federations to continue the OFB in the Government setup has not been put up before the EGOM for consideration. The contents of the Joint letter of the Federations dtd. 09/03/2021 addressed to Rajnath Singh, is given below for the benefit of our readers.

Protest against violation of the conciliation settlement reached between MoD and Federations on 09/10/2020 in the presence of CLC(C)

The Federations vide letter dtd. 22/02/2021 have already brought to your kind notice that the MoD/DDP has been repeatedly violating the conciliation settlement reached between the MoD and the Federations on our Indefinite Strike Demands against Corporatisation of Ordnance Factories in the presence of CLC(C) on 09/10/2020. The relevant portion of the settlement is once again given below for your kind ready reference.

“it is agreed by the parties that in respect of strike demands dated 04/08/2020, during the pendency of ongoing conciliation proceedings, the Employer will abide by the provisions of Section 33(1) of Industrial Dispute Act 1947 and the Unions will not proceed on proposed Strike from 12/10/2020”.

However inspite of our protest we are very much shocked to know that the meeting of the EGOM under your Hon’ble Chairmanship has taken place recently and have discussed about various modalities regarding the implementation of the decision taken by Government to Corporatise the Ordnance Factories. In this regard we would like to bring to your kind notice the following facts.

After the conciliation settlement reached on 09/10/2020 the Secretary(DP) held a meeting with the Federations on 29/10/2020 to discuss about our strike demands. After discussion Secretary(DP) have requested the following from the Federations. The relevant portion of the minutes of the meeting is reproduced below :-

“However, considering Federation’ repeated assertions that performance of OFB can be improved under the present set-up, they may give specific suggestions  and action plan not later than 20/11/2020. He further clarified that if their suggestions and action plan is found to be convincing, then only those would be placed for consideration of the EGOM. It was decided to have another meeting in the last week of November 2020”.

Accordingly the Federations submitted the alternative/viable proposals on 20/11/2020 to continue the Ordnance Factories in the Govt. setup itself. Subsequently the Secretary(DP)  held another meeting with the Federations on 05/01/2021 and after discussing the alternative proposals given by the Federations, he once again requested the Federations to submit concrete suggestions that are relevant and feasible in the context of improvement in the autonomy, accountability and efficiency of Ordnance Factories. The relevant portion of the minutes of the meeting is reproduced below:

“He emphasised  that we must develop the thinking to maximise productivity of the assets created so far. He reiterated that the future structure of OFB should be seen to create a win-win situation. Secretary(DP) mentioned that he is still looking for concrete suggestions that are relevant and feasible in the context of improvement in the autonomy, accountability and efficiency  in Ordnance supplies by OFB”.

From the above it is amply clear that when a negotiation process based on the conciliation settlement reached between the Employer and the Employees in accordance with the Provisions of Industrial Dispute Act 1947, the MoD/DDP is blatantly repeatedly violating the same. We are of the view that these facts are not brought before the notice of the EGOM in the meeting held on 02/03/2021 by the MoD/DDP authorities. Therefore we once again reiterate that any decision involving Corporatisation of Ordnance Factories when the matter is under negotiation based on the conciliation settlement is illegal, unconstitutional unjustifiedand will be bad in the eye of law. It is also brought to your notice that the entire workforce of Ordnance Factories have taken a pledge on 2nd March 2021 rejecting the decision of the Government to Corporatise the Ordnance Factories and also to continue as Central Govt. Employees/Defence Civilian employees till their superannuation from service.

Sir, we are confident that you will consider the entire matter in its true perspective and not to take any decision to convert the Ordnance Factories in to a Corporation and then to privatise it, which will be against the interest of the National Security and Defence preparedness of our country.