New Delhi, July 07: Union environment minister T R Baalu today met Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and conveyed his party President M Karunanidhi's appeal to the Centre to intervene in the Tamil Nadu government employees strike to protect their constitutional rights. Baalu, who handed over Karunanidhi's letter to him in this regard, said the Prime Minister told him that he was "very much concerned about the grave matter and will do the needful that is appropriate". In the letter, Karunanidhi accused the Jayalalitha government of putting the state machinery in "utter chaos" and sought Vajpayee's intervention to direct the Attorney General to seek directions from supreme court to "restore the constitutional rights" of the striking government employees. Karunanidhi alleged that while the government had failed in bringing a negotiated settlement with the striking state government employees and teachers, it was planning 15,000 recruitment’s without adhering to procedures from the ruling party cadres.
He said the government had resorted to midnight arrests of employees "violating" the Supreme Court guidelines.
"The state government by resorting to these acts had put the state government machinery in utter chaos and confusion," he said adding that around two lakh government employees were "summarily" dismissed by the state government. Karunanidhi also said the state government had gone on an appeal late last night against the high court order on conditional release of arrested employees and the high court bench had stayed it till the matter came up before the court today.
Bureau Report