People's Democracy

'Review Decision On Govt Mints & Security Presses'

We have been informed from the press note issued by the PIB on the decisions of the cabinet, government of India held on September 2, 2005 that a decision has been taken to create a wholly owned corporation under the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance amalgamating assets, liabilities and functions of all the nine units of security printing presses and mints. The press note referred above has given broad contours of the rationale for undertaking this corporatisation.

We are, however, surprised as to how such a major step has been initiated towards the restructure without any consultation with the unions and associations of concerned units. We are also curious to know whether the wholly owned corporation will continue to remain so because in the past many corporations, similarly corporatised, have been subsequently disinvested by off-loading parts of the government’s equity. And in any case, whether, given the security implications of the sector, should it at all be incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956 or the creation of statutory corporation is needed if it has to be insulated from off-loading of the government ownership is also a question open to debate. The other question is on the status accorded to the employees in the new entity that of deemed deputation has also serious legal and constitutional implications. It has been our experience in the past, for example, in the MTNL where even after two long decades of the formation of MTNL the status of employees have not been sorted out as yet. Similar problems are there in other organisations like BSNL.

This idea of corporatisation was mooted by the NDA government but could not be taken ahead because of resistance which raised issues of constitutional validity is something which cannot be lost sight of. Under no circumstances, can entities which are essential ingredients of Monetary System Management and that of BSNL which has commercial functions be compared. We are not aware as to whether the constitutional pros and cons have been taken into account by the cabinet while deciding the way it has done because the functions of the presses and mints involve sovereign responsibilities. We are further surprised by the fact that the government which often expresses its difficulty in undertaking important programmes on account of financial crunch is now prepared to part with Rs 700 crores from the public exchequer.

We are aware of the fact that all the trade unions in mints and security printing presses are on an agitational course against this decision of the cabinet. Obviously, we are sympathetic to the rights of the trade unions to agitate on the crucial issue.

We therefore, urge that you kindly review this decision of the cabinet and that the implementation of the cabinet decision be stayed pending that review. There can be also a discussion between the government and the Left parties on the ways and means of improving efficiency and flexibility of the functioning of mints and security presses without initiating such a drastic structural changes.