Karam Prakash
Patiala, October 16
Thousands of compensation seekers are at the receiving end due to the acute shortage of the Employees Compensation Commissioners in the Labour Department. As a result, employees are awaiting settlement of their cases for the past many years.
A case, Zora Singh versus Fatehgarh Sahib-based gas service station, under the Payment of Wages Act 1936, has been pending since 2017.
The department has divided the state into 25 circles and each circle should have an Employees Compensation Commissioner. Of the 25 stipulated posts, the department has seven commissioners, who were designated from the cadre of the Labour Officers. Thus, 18 posts of the commissioners are lying vacant in the department.
Experts said the Assistant Labour Commissioners (ALCs) and the Labour Conciliation Officers (LCOs), with five years of experience, should be appointed as the Employees Compensation Commissioner as per Section 20 of the Employees Compensation Act, 1923.
Vijay Walia, a labour rights activist, said, “The vacant posts of the ALCs and the LCOs should be filled immediately, so that they can be appointed as the compensation commissioners to dispose of the pending cases.”
Manvesh Singh, Principal Secretary, Labour Department, could not be contacted despite repeated attempts
Meanwhile, the District Bar Association, Patiala, today wrote a letter to the Labour Minister to appoint eligible LCOs as the compensation commissioners to expedite the settlement of the pending cases.
Fill vacancies
The vacant posts of the ALCs and the LCOs should be filled immediately, so that they can be appointed as the compensation commissioners to dispose of the pending cases. — Vijay Walia, labour rights activist
