It has been reported that the National Stock Exchange (NSE) failed to pay interest on delayed payment of gratuity to 105 former employees within 30 days from the date it became payable (“Court summons NSE MD for breach of Payment of Gratuity Act”, September 9). The labour enforcement officer did the right thing by filing a case in Mumbai’s chief metropolitan magistrate’s court against NSE’s irresponsible act. Though the court issued summons for NSE MD Ravi Narain without further delay, such acts must be publicly condemned. In India, provident fund savings and gratuity payments are two major post-retirement savings for employees in the private sector. Given the absence of a social security system in this country, these provisions protect the future of senior citizens of this country.
This is not the first time NSE employees have faced the wrath of their top management. In the past, NSE published a public notice against a former employee who joined its competitor. It is another matter that the defamation suit filed by the aggrieved employee was not quashed in any of the courts despite NSE’s plea to the Supreme Court to do so.
It is really deplorable that a company that earns a gross profit margin of 67 per cent and whose MD’s salary is one of the best in the world (Rs 6.9 crore a year) is acting in such an ungrateful manner towards its former employees.
The moot point is: why was there a delay in payment in the first place? Is the company above the law of the land? A company (or management) that is hugely apathetic towards its own employees can never be a preserver of public trust and, therefore, needs to be completely revamped.
G Subbramaniam, Delhi