Interim Report - Report No 211, November 1981

Case No 995 (India) - Complaint date: 18-AUG-80 - Closed

1. 446. The complaint of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) is contained in a communication dated 18 August 1980. The Government sent its reply in a communication dated 4 June 1981.
2. 447. India has not ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) nor the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. The complainant's allegations

1. 448. The complainant alleges that since the latter half of 1979 employees of the General Reserve Engineer Force (GREF) - also known as the Border Roads Organisation, created under the Ministry of Shipping and Transport to construct roads over mountain terrain in north and north-eastern India - have been refused the right to form an association, have been arrested, tortured, detained without trial and dismissed for their trade union activity and had their "illegal" trade union premises broken into, their documents confiscated and their funds seized.
2. 449. The complainant explains the background to the poor industrial relations as follows: the Border Roads Organisation functions as a separate, self-contained body under the Ministry and its employees are governed by the same rules that apply to civilians in the Defence Service, namely the Central Civil Service (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1965; they are recruited through the Union Public Service Commission, sit the All India Service Examinations and are not trained to use any weapon. According to the complainant, in 1969 these employees were placed under certain provisions of the Army Act, 1950 and the Army Rules, 1954 for the purpose of discipline only, in conjunction with the Central Civil Service Rules; since then, 95 per cent of employees' cases have been tried under the Army Act which does not allow for a fair trial. The complainant claims that the GREF employees have been unfairly victimised as none of the other civilian employees in the Defence Service are subject to two sets of rules. It further states that the key appointments in the GREF are held by army personnel who enjoy better conditions of service than the civilian employees and are not subject to the Central Civil Service Rules; the resulting blockage of civilian promotions together with the unequal treatment has led to serious discord.
3. 450. The complainant points out that the combined effect of article 33 of the Indian Constitution (freedom of association may be restricted in the armed forces) and section 4 of the Army Act (application of the Act to any force raised or maintained in India under the authority of the Government) restricts the right of the GREF employees - which it stresses are merely a civilian construction force recognised as such by the Government during Parliament on 18 June 1980 (the complainant attaches a copy of the Parliamentary question in which the Government's admission appears) - to form trade unions. Nevertheless, the complainant states that the 2,000 odd GREF employees at Tezpur, Assam State, on 15 August 1978, formed an association called the All India Border Roads Employees' Association which put its demands for equal treatment before a departmental Committee which visited the area in September 1979. This action apparently annoyed the military authorities who, on 14 December 1979, allegedly broke into the Association's premises and took away its vital documents and two bank drafts worth 3,500 rupees.
4. 451. On the same day, six office bearers of the Association were arrested and, according to the complainant, severely beaten. The following day, continues the complainant, all GREF Tezpur employees held a peaceful protest for the release of their arrested colleagues; the army infantry was called in and 335 employees were arrested and held in prisoner of war cells for weeks and months without sanitation, food, water or lighting arrangements and their families were terrorised by the military. The complainant lists the Association's officers who are awaiting trial or who were detained, court-martialled by military tribunals and jailed under regimes of vigorous imprisonment; they are attached as an annex. The complainant also alleges that more than 850 employees who took part in the peaceful collective movement have been fined.
5. 452. Lastly, the complainant states that other office bearers of the All India Border Roads Employees' Association have been forced to go underground as warrants for their arrest have been issued: R. Viswan (General Secretary), Net Ram, Meghaj Sharma, S.V. Tyagi, Pritham Singh, K.K. Tyagi, Gandhamb Singh and N.C. Nandi.

B. The Government's reply

1. 453. In its letter of 4 June 1981, the Government states that the GREF is entrusted with the work and responsibility connected with defence and is practically a wing of the army being covered by the Army Act. The restriction on its employees forming an association is within the national law and in keeping with Article 9 of Convention No. 87 and Article 5 of Convention No. 98, according to the Government, so there has been no infringement of the Conventions.

C. The conclusions of the Committee

1. 454. This case concerns allegations that the civilian employees of the General Reserve Engineer Force (GREF) have been refused the right to organise, have been arrested, tortured, detained without trial and dismissed for their trade union activities and that their trade union premises were broken into, documents confiscated and funds seized. The Government replies that the GREF is practically a wing of the army as its work is connected with defence, and thus its employees are lawfully restricted from forming an association.
2. 455. Having been informed that supplementary indications would be supplied by the Government on the issue of the right to organise of the employees of the General Reserve Engineer Force (GREF) the Committee decided to hold in abeyance until its next session, its examination of this aspect of the case.
3. 456. The Committee notes that the Government does not reply to the specific and detailed allegations relating to arrest, torture, detention without trial and dismissal for trade union activity of the GREF employees since December 1979, nor to the breaking-into of their trade union premises and violation of trade union property on 14 December 1979. It would accordingly ask the Government to supply its observations on them, giving in particular information on the present situation of the 45 trade unionists listed by the complainant in the annex.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 457. In these circumstances, the Committee recommends the Governing Body to approve the present interim report, in particular the following conclusions;
   • In view of the fact that the Government did not reply to certain allegations, the Committee would ask it to supply its observations on the alleged arrest, torture, detention without trial and dismissal for trade union activity of the GREF's employees since December 1979, in particular the 45 officers of the All India Border Roads Employees' Association listed in the annex, and on the alleged breaking-into of their trade union premises and violation of trade union property on 14 December 1979.

Z. ANNEX

• ASSAM STATE
  1. 1 Shri P. Chandra Mouli (President)
• Arrested on 14.12.79 and severely beaten; kept in army custody for 7 months without trial; jailed for 30 months and discharged from service.
  2. 2 Shri P. Kuttan
  3. 3 Shri Amar Singh
  4. 4 Shri Kishan Chand
• Arrested on 15.12.79; kept in military custody for 6 months; jailed for 12 months and discharged from service.
  5. 5 Shri T. Krishanan(Co-ordinating member)
• Arrested on 14.12.79 and severely beaten; kept more than 1 month in army custody; imprisoned for 12 months and discharged from service.
  6. 6 Jagatar Singh (Executive member)
• Arrested on 14.12.79 and severely beaten; kept more than 2 months in army custody without trial; jailed for 9 months and discharged from service.
  7. 7 S.K. Mondal
  8. 8 L.C. Hooda
  9. 9 M.T. Mathew
  10. 10 Darshan Singh
• Arrested on 15.12.79; kept for more than 1 month in army custody without trial; jailed June 1980 for 9 months and discharged from service.
  11. 11 Shri Madhavan Pillai
• Arrested on 15.12.79; detained in army custody for 1 month without trial; jailed for 7 months during February 1980 and discharged from service.
  12. 12 Shri Hariharan (Executive member)
• Arrested on 14.12.79 and severely beaten; kept 1 month in military custody without trial; jailed for 6 month: during January 1980 and discharged from service.
  13. 13 Shri S.P. Sachdeva (Vice-President)
• Arrested on 14.12.79 and severely beaten kept for 1 month in military custody without trial; jailed for 6 months during January 1980 and discharged from service.
  14. 14 P. Surarajan
  15. 15 K.C. Scaria
  16. 16 S.K. Vedacharya
  17. 17 P.V.G.K. Air
  18. 18 D. M. Khan
  19. 19 Annas Rodrigouos
  20. 20 D. Bhowal
  21. 21 Virender Kumar
  22. 22 Bhagwan Dass
  23. 23 Niyazuddin
  24. 24 Mohinder Lal
  25. 25 S. Mahato
  26. 26 A.K. Dass
  27. 27 L.K. Tyagi (Executive member))
• Arrested on 15.12.79; kept 1 month in military custody without trial; jailed for 6 months during January 1980 and discharged from service.
  28. 28 Shri M.O. Mathew
  29. 29 Shri P. Chelladura
  30. 30 Shri Mupid
• Tried under Central Civil Service Rules and discharged from service during July 1980.
• DELHI
  31. 31 Shri Ranjit Singh
  32. 32 Shri V.K. Sharan
  33. 33 Shri P.K. Srivastava
  34. 34 Shri I.M. Sharma
  35. 35 Shri V.K. Chibber
• Arrested on 28.12.79; detained without trial in military custody and awaiting trial.
• SIKKIM
  36. 36 Shri Ramiah
• Arrested during December 1979; detained without trial for a month in military custody; jailed for 4 months during February 1980 and discharged from service.
  37. 37 Shri Kaladharan
• Arrested on 28.2.80; detained in military custody without trial and awaiting trial.
• BHUTAN
  38. 38 Shri N. Sukumaran
• Arrested during January 1980; detained in military custody for 14 days; released without charge, without trial, but pay cut for 14 days.
• PUNJAB
  39. 39 Shri Joga Singh
• Arrested on 24.12.79; detained in military custody for 14 days and released after recovering 14 days' pay fine.
  40. 40 Shri Mohan Singh
• No information supplied by complainant.
• RAJASTHAN
  41. 41 Shri Anandan
• Arrested and detained for over 1 month in military custody without trial; jailed for 6 months during January 1980 and discharged from service.
• JAMMU AND KASHMIR
  42. 42 Shri N.S. Natarajan
  43. 43 Shri Dhanuskodi
  44. 44 Shri G.P. Panday
  45. 45 Shri B.A. Khan
• Facing trial under Central Civil Service Rules.