Chennai, July 10: The indefinite strike by Tamil Nadu government employees and teachers entered the ninth day even as the high court sought written submissions today from the agitators who have moved the high court challenging amendment to ESMA and action against them. The Madras High Court while reserving its order on the petitions yesterday had directed counsels for the batch of petitioners to hand over their written submissions to the court today.

The government employees, who launched their strike on July 2 in support of their demands, including restoration of curtailed benefits, have announced they would take a decision on withdrawing their stir only after the court verdict. The bench asked advocate general whether the government could issue mass dismissal orders and sought an explanation as to why striking employees were not given an opportunity to join duty.

The Chief Justice wanted to know if the provisions for disciplinary actions were in keeping with the service conditions.

Meanwhile, the state government continued its massive recruitment drive to replace employees dismissed under ESMA. The government had on July 4 issued an ordinance amending ESMA, which empowered the government to summarily dismiss striking employees.

Bureau Report