In relief to striking clerks, govt withdraws ‘no work, no pay’ policy

In a big relief to over 15,000 protesting government clerks, the Haryana government has decided to withdraw its “no work, no pay” stance. The state government had announced that it would implement this policy during the clerks’ strike. Now, the entire duration of this strike will be treated as Leave of Kind Due.
In yet another relief for the clerks, the government has decided that the duration of their strike will also not be regarded as a service break. The Haryana government has further issued orders to release the salaries of the clerks during the strike. The strike was announced by the clerks on 5 July demanding an increase in grade pay, following which the government issued the no work no pay orders on 27 July that came into effect for the striking clerks.
This order was withdrawn by the Haryana government late at night on 6 September, Wednesday. The strike was called off after a recent meeting of the clerks with the government. In the meeting, a pay scale of Rs 21,700 was offered by the government, but the association rejected it. After this, a committee of four to five members including two retired IAS officers was formed to consult on the matter. This committee will discuss all the demands of the clerks for three months; post this, the committee will prepare a report and submit it to the government. Till then the state-wide clerks’ strike will remain postponed. The government has also decided to pay the pending salaries to all the clerks during the strike. So far, five rounds of meetings have been held to pacify the clerks who are on strike. However, the government had imposed ESMA (Haryana Essential Services-Maintenance Act) before the late-night meeting. On Saturday, Chief Secretary Sanjeev Kaushal had issued an order to impose ESMA on the striking employees, but now the government has withdrawn it.