Mass layoffs: HC issues notices to Tech Mahindra, Telangana

The Hyderabad High Court on Monday issued notices to Tech Mahindra as well as the state of Telangana and officials of its labour department directing them to respond to allegations of unlawful retrenchments of software engineers and other professionals by the information technology firm.

Justice M S Ramachandra Rao gave them three weeks to file their replies to the contentions raised in a writ petition filed by Sudhakar Suddala and three other retrenched employees of TechM.

The counsel for the retrenched employees told the court that the TechM management was resorting to large scale, illegal retrenchment of its employees in Hyderabad. He also alleged that the human resources department of the company was pressurising employees to resign in a manner that made it look like they quit voluntarily.

The petitioners had earlier approached the joint commissioner of labour, Ranga Reddy, complaining against the high-handed and illegal methods being adopted by the company to get rid of its employees.

But even as the conciliation process was set in motion by the labour department, the company went ahead and terminated the employees without waiting for the outcome of the conciliation process, showing scant regard for the law and the government, the counsel for the techies told the court.

The counsel for the laid-off techies told the court that the actions of the company ran contrary to Section 47(2) of the Telangana Shops and Establishments Act, 1988.

Since the state government's exemption of IT companies from this provision of the Act vide GO MS No 22 has been stayed by the High Court itself in another petition, the counsel sought a direction to the labour department and TechM to forthwith reinstate the retrenched employees pending the conciliation proceedings.