ESI Corporation Meeting on 19.09.2013

The meeting of the ESI Corporation took place on the after noon of 19.09.2013. We came to know that there was on the Agenda a subject for conferring on the Hon’ble Minister of Labour and Employment in the capacity of his being the Chairman of the ESI Corporation, the power to be the Appointing Authority of the officers in Group ‘A’. That power would automatically confer on him the power to those officers also. We also came to know that Sec. 92 of the ESI Act, 1948 had been invoked in this regard and a direction had been given to the ESI Corporation to that effect. Giving direction is different from taking over the Administration. There cannot be any method of Administration that would change the basic structure of the ESIC being an Autonomous Body.

We sent the following SMS to three members of the ESI Corporation at 2.12 p.m on 19.09.2013:
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“Sir,
Hon’ble Minister wants power to transfer officers. Any ESIC resolution to confer such power is ultra vires. Please refer the mater to ESIC Sub-committee. Please do not permit hasty decision. Thankyou! – flourishingesic.info”
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This SMS was sent to Mr. Kali Ghose, Mr. Ram Kishor Tripathi and Mr. Dipak Sarkar. We came to know later that the matter had been referred to the Sub-Committee.

We, on behalf of the insured population, thank all those who contributed to that very meaningful decision taken by that Body.

Now that the Sub-Committee is to go into the issue, we request the readers to send their opinions, representations, if any, on the issue to the Sub-Committee for their considered decision. If the copies of such references are forwarded to this website, the contents thereof will be displayed here for the benefit of all. First of all, the Ministry of Labour which is stated to have issued the direction under Sec. 92 must explain how and why it felt it necessary to issue such direction, which is totally contradictory to the decision taken on the floor of the ESI Corporation in February, 2005 when it was chaired by Hon’ble K.C.Rao, the then Minister for Labour and Employment. That meeting had set right the anomalies sought to be perpetrated by the earlier Minister who also wanted to wield power in the matter of transfers and postings of officers of the ESIC.

It is proposed to submit a detailed representation to the Sub-Committee after collecting necessary information in this regard. One thing is certain. Public interest will be served only when transfers of officers are made on the basis of set guidelines, in a transparent manner. There should be no need for the officers to go the PAs of the Ministers to salam and stand before them, whatever be the party in power. Such situation will be beneficial only for those officers who believe in manipulations and not for others who do serve, really, for the welfare of the organisation.

In the context, the readers are also informed that the issue of running Medical Colleges by the ESIC had come in for serious discussion during the said Meeting. The Chairman of the ESIC was annoyed and he asked the members why they did not raise such objections when the previous Ministers were pressing for so many medical colleges. That was a right question, anyway. But, it did not justify opening more such colleges as desired by the present Minister.

It is also understood that the Finance Division informed the Body that the funds position of the ESIC was estimated and predicted to be in the negative after two years. The reasons are not far to seek. The improper amendments rammed down the throats of Parliament without any discussion on the day the issue of Mr. Sibu Soren rocked the house are the main reason for such state of affairs. The details in this regard have already been posted with evidence in this forum.

At present, we only hope that the Minutes approved by the Chairman of the ESI Corporation would faithfully record the complete discussion that had, actually, taken place on 19.09.2013 on all subjects.