IT secretary Harpreet Singh clarified the government's stand on the ongoing lay-offs issue saying that lay-offs are an individual affair between the employers and the employees. The state government cannot interfere in such affairs, as the state government is concentrating on facilitating companies.  

Unlike Karnataka, which has some protective measures for the employees, TS and AP do not have protective measures in place as the IT sector is completely exempted from the Labour Law, Companies’ Law and any other rules applicable in such cases.

“These are blue collar employees and they are not covered under the Labour Law that protects employees from exploitation. I don’t think we can interfere in the individual affairs between a private employer and his/her employees, although we will look into any other issues. The companies have been exempted from certain rules and allowed to work 24x7. However, that does not mean that any employee is being exploited or working 24x7,” said the official.

IT employees who have been at the receiving end of the current spell of lay-offs by few of the IT majors had met the IT minister twice this week and had also submitted a representation. Currently, few others have approached the court while many more are likely to file cases against companies.

Source: DC