Former HT employee dies waiting for reinstatement for 13 years

For the past 13 years, a small tent on the footpath in front of the Hindustan Times House on New Delhi’s Kasturba Gandhi Marg was home for Ravindra Singh. Unlike the many poor on the road off Connaught Place, Singh chose to live here in his quest for justice for himself and 361 others from the Hindustan Times’ printing division, who lost their jobs in 2004.

The yellow-and-red tarpaulin tent and the nearby subway were where “Thakur or Thakur Saheb”, as he was known to the hawkers, would spend his days. At night, he would sleep under the two trees here. Over the years, he and his tent had become an essential part of this place. He would say to the hawkers, one day we will win the battle and the Hindustan Times will have to pay their dues. This wait was never ending but Singh’s story ended on Thursday morning when he was found dead on the pavement.

His body is lying in Lady Hardinge Hospital mortuary, waiting for someone from his family to claim it. Police said his family is untraceable right now. The investigating officer in the case, ASI Suresh Kumar, told Newslaundry, “We shifted his body to the mortuary yesterday. We are trying to verify his address, only then will the post-mortem be done.”

Singh, 62, is from Himachal Pradesh but no one has seen his family members in the last few years.

On Thursday morning, like any other day, Bablu Pandit set up his cigarette shop when he noticed Singh still sleeping on the footpath. This would have been around 9 am. Pandit realised Singh had died when more people started gathering. “Shareer akda hua tha toh is hisab se ye laga ki jab lete to lete hi reh gaye. (It looked like he died in his sleep.)”

Mohammad Mohsin, who had known Singh for seven years, said, “He wasn’t feeling well on Wednesday night. Possibly, he died at night itself.” Each and every vendor knew that Singh was waging a legal battle with the HT management.

His tent still has posters demanding the reinstatement of all sacked employees. The food-truck next to his tent would feed him once a day and another friend used to get him food at night. “Whenever we used to talk about his family he would change the topic,” 30-year-old Mohsin said.

Ashok Soni, a fruit seller in the subway, has lost a comrade. “This place is empty without him. For years, he would spend his days in this subway, talking to us, hoping that one day he would get his money from the company,” Soni said. He added that Singh wanted to go back to his village after that.

Ramesh Negi, a former employee with HT’s printing division, had gathered 10-15 sacked employees following Singh’s death. “We have given an application to the SHO requesting him to hand-over the body to us – in case they fail to trace his family members in the next 48 hours,” said Negi. He added they will perform the last rites. “Singh was one of us. He was employed as a dispatch worker in HT,” he said.

“Even his father Rangil Singh was a security guard with the company.  We have asked the police to seek their details from the management. That is the best possible route to track down his family,” 62-year-old Akhileshwar Rai told Newslaundry.

According to the sacked employees, he is the 24^th person among the 362 who have died since 2004. Rai holds the company responsible for this situation of its employees. “The court order is in our favour, the award is in our favour. Despite this, they have played with the law,” said Negi. They claimed that even though the workers were reinstated for a couple of months in 2013, they were again asked to leave.

The sacked employees were employed with the printing division of Hindustan Times Ltd (HTL) which was incorporated in 1924. In 2002, the same promoters floated HT Media Ltd (HTML) and “the entire media business was transferred to the new company”. On October 3, 2004, 362 employees working with HTL were terminated. These employees filed the case against the termination order and the legal chase started.

In January 2012, the Industrial Tribunal passed its final order terming the termination “illegal and unjustified.” It asked the management of HTL to “reinstate 272 workmen treating them in the continuity of service under terms and conditions of service” as before the termination.

The case related to the payment of back wages of these terminated employees is sub-judice and pending in the Supreme Court. However, the execution order for their reinstatement passed was in May 2016 by Additional District Judge Surinder S Rathi. He had asked HTL to execute the order of reinstatement within four weeks.

The legal battle will continue. But for Singh, the fight now is in getting a respectful adieu as the Delhi Police and his former colleagues continue to trace his family in Himachal Pradesh.