Anganwadi workers holding protest outside Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in New Delhi, Wednesday, March 9, 2022. (Express photo by Amit Mehra) The Delhi government Tuesday assured the Delhi High Court that it will not terminate any more anganwadi workers or helpers in connection with the strike held by them recently. More than 991 workers had been terminated from their jobs until Monday, the government submitted.
The submission was made during the hearing of a petition filed by the Delhi State Anganwadi Workers & Helpers Union for reinstatement of the workers.
The union was represented by senior advocate Colin Gonsalves. Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi represented the government and objected to the maintainability of the petition, saying the workers need to approach the appropriate forum under the Industrial Disputes Act.
Singhvi told the court that there are 10,000 workers in Delhi and 3,000 of them had stopped working despite increase in allowances. He added that the workers, who were subsequently terminated, had refused to come back even after being asked to. “In Delhi, more than elsewhere, we have increased their allowances on February 25,” he submitted.
Justice V Kameswar Rao said that the workers are doing a “lot of good work” but the government statement should not be construed as any stay and it should not lead to them stopping any work. However, Gonsalves told the court that workers have already been told to go back to work.
Following Gonsalves’s submission that every worker wants to go back to work, the court asked the government whether it would consider taking back the terminated persons. Singhvi replied, “My learned friend (Gonsalves) should not put a gun on my head. I will try and take a compassionate view. We will see what can be done.”
There are about 10,500 anganwadis in Delhi with one worker and helper each. The union in the petition filed on Monday stated that it conducted a “peaceful and legal strike” between January 31 and March 9 after giving a notice of strike on January 27. The strike was called off after the government issued a prohibition on the strike and all the members were asked to report back immediately for duty, it added.
However, the union said that the workers were soon asked to sign apology letters and give an assurance about not going on strike in the future. “This perfectly peaceful end to the strike was sabotaged by the speech of Navlendra Kumar Singh, Joint Director, Department of Women and Child Development, who gave direct orders to terminate the services on a mass scale for mere participation in the strike,” the petition filed through advocate Sneha Mukherjee said.
During the hearing, Gonsalves earlier told the court that the number of terminated workers is increasing and that the government plans to terminate more. The petition stated that over 3,000 show cause notices have been issued to the anganwadi workers and helpers.
The workers had gone on strike demanding regularisation and increased honorarium. The court will hear the matter next on April 13.
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