High Court Orders BSNL To Pay All Contractors By 15th Of Every Month; Big Boost For Unpaid Contractors

BSNL has been instructed by the Madras High Court to complete wage payment to 4,500 of its contract workers by the 15th of each month.

HC’s Instructions

In the future the 30 day wage bill of the contract workers has to be claimed by BSNL on or before the 5th of the next month. 

The bill would identify the workers to be paid along with the remuneration amount. 

The same has to be accepted within 5 days.

The previous month’s bill for the employees has to be settled on or before the 15th of the next month. 

BSNL Faces Penalty For Late Payouts

If BSNL fails to make the payouts, they would have to pay up an interest of 6% per annum as penalty for late payments. 

The high court order came as Justice R Suresh Kumar was addressing a batch of petitions filed by contract workers and their unions. 

They were requesting the court to direct BSNL to pay salaries due to them from Jan 2019 along with EPF, ESI contributions and bonuses for the 2018-19 year. 

With respect to bonus payment, the judge said that the workers and unions can discuss the same with BSNL in mutual negotiations. 

If the discussions yield no results, the matter can be passed on to the Labour Commissioner for adjudication.

BSNL’s Commercial 4G Launch

In other news, BSNL has rolled out its 4G services in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka.

The service promises high quality voice calls, and video calls over data.

To activate 4G, BSNL customers have to first ensure that their handset supports 4G VoLTE. 

They must then send an SMS reading “ACT VOLTE” to 53733.

Shortly thereafter, 4G service will be activated on the phone. 

BSNL 4G SIM cards presently cost Rs 20 in retail shops. 

BSNL 4G Is Already Live Across These Cities, States; But You Need A New SIM (Full Details)