U.P. Government accepts 4 IFWJ nominees on Majithia monitoring panel

Friends,

The U.P. Government (labour and information departments) has approved on 8th November 2016 the nominations, by the Indian Federation of Working Journalists (IFWJ), for the membership of the State tripartite committee to monitor the implementation of the Justice Majithia wage recommendations for newspaper industry. The Government of India had directed all state governments to constitute such a tripartite committees after Parliament had notified the award. The Supreme Court had rejected on 11th November 2011 the petition by newspaper-owners against the award. The owners petition no: 246/2011 was against the IFWJ (respondent No.1) and others.

Chattisgarh Government (CM Sri Raman Singh) was the first to form such a committee. IFWJ unit the Chattisgarh Shramjeevi Patrakar Sangh (CSPS) president Arvind Awasthi and three other members were included in the committee. U.P. Governor Ram Naik had accepted Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s advice to constitute the tripartite committee, which has four out of six employees’ nominees from the IFWJ. The IFWJ president Com K Vikram Rao had sent the proposals to the UP labour commissioner, Kanpur, in March. The Government took nine months to issue the gazette notification by the principal labour secretary Mr.Rajendra Kumar Tiwari IAS. First in the state approved list is Com.Haseeb Siddiqui, president of the IFWJ UP unit, Uttar Pradesh Working Journalist Union, Press Club Lucknow, Com.Mudit Mathur  who is an expert on labour laws and is a senior correspondent, accredited to the U.P. Government, was nominated by Com.K Vikram Rao, Com.Pranshu Mishra, bureau chief of CNN and President of the U.P. State Accredited Correspondents Committee and Com. Yogesh Gupta (Kashi Patrakar Sangh: IFWJ) are the other members. All the three, Haseeb Siddiqui, Mudit Mathur and Pranshu Mishrahad attended the 30th Plenary Session of the IFWJ in Karnataka (3-5 March 2016) as National Councillors.

The tripartite committee has U.P. Labour Minister Mr.Shahid Manzoor as its chairman and the principal secretaries of Labour and Information departments, Information Director and Labour Commissioner are ex-officio members. The IFWJ has been in the forefront of the journalists’ struggle since its inception on 28th October 1950 at Jantar Mantar New Delhi. The IFWJ was represented in all the Wage Boards Chaired from Justice Shinde to Justice Majithia. The IFWJ President Com.K Vikram Rao was IFWJ nominee on the journalist wage boards, chaired by Justice R.K. Manisana Singh (Manipur) Chief Justice of the Assam High Court and Justice G.R. Majithia of the Punjab and Haryana High Courts (Chandigarh). Com. Rao had appeared as IFWJ representative before the Justice D G Palekar and Justice U N Bachawat wage boards. Currently Com. K Vikram Rao is appearing in person in a writ petition before the Delhi High Court, challenging the illegal nominations by the Press Council of India in 2014. The petition is listed for final hearing on 15th December 2016. All state units are urged to secure formation of such tripartite committee in their states. With greetings for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Your fraternally
Vipin Dhuliya
IFWJ Secy. (H.Q.).
New Delhi