HC raps PSPCL over inconsistent autonomy claims

Patiala: The Punjab and Haryana high court has criticised the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) for adopting contradictory legal positions on its administrative autonomy and warned that any future deviation from the stand taken before the court would be treated as contempt.The court, hearing a petition filed by junior engineers Gagandeep Singh and others in Patiala, observed that the corporation displayed a pattern of invoking its autonomous status to sidestep beneficial govt directives, while pleading the need for state approval when it came to extending financial benefits to its own employees.The court termed this practice of selectively accepting and rejecting the same premise "worryingly inconsistent" and unbecoming of a state instrumentality.The petitioners, working as junior engineers (sub-station/electrical), alleged that they were paid less than their juniors, an anomaly they attributed to the power corporation's failure to apply Finance Circular (No. 3/2024) uniformly.Placed in the Sixth Pay Commission with a basic pay of Rs 43,800 following the completion of their probation, they did not receive the 15% increase granted to more recently appointed colleagues. The lead petitioner contended that he currently drew Rs 45,100 per month, while employees junior to him reportedly received between Rs 52,300 and Rs 53,900.The court directed the managing director of the PSPCL to personally examine the applicable rules and submit an affidavit before the next hearing, clarifying unambiguously whether the corporation considered itself bound by the Punjab govt instructions or operated as a fully autonomous body empowered to take independent decisions.The court said the position stated in the affidavit would be binding on the PSPCL in perpetuity. The next hearing in the case will be held on May 15.Invoking the corporation's status as a public sector undertaking, the court reminded the PSPCL of its obligation to function as a model employer, held to higher standards of fairness and institutional accountability.The court's observations came against a backdrop of mounting frustration within the sector. The Power Sector Joint Action Committee (PS-JAC), a coalition comprising the PSEB Engineers' Association, the Council of Junior Engineers, the Pensioners' Association, and several officer welfare bodies, recently raised a series of overlapping grievances.The committee contended that PSPCL's claims of financial hardship, cited in court to resist employee demands, sat uneasily alongside management projections of Rs 7,800-crore profit.It also opposed the corporation's challenge to the release of Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief, arguing that these were statutory entitlements that the PSPCL previously committed to provide in line with the Punjab govt norms.The PS-JAC further alleged that the corporation selectively used the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) framework as a pretext to withhold legitimate dues.MSID:: 130859522 413 |