Almost a year after the death of a contract labourer at a plant of Reliance Industries Limited at Rasayani, near Panvel, a local court observed that the death was caused due to rash and negligent act or omission on the part of the company’s management and named nine senior officials as the accused in the case.
An order on January 6, 2016 — a copy of which is with The Hindu — states that action against the nine accused should be initiated under Section 304 A (rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide) read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code. The maximum punishment under the section is two years or a fine or both.
The order passed by VC Joshi, Judicial Magistrate of FC Khalapur, observed that the deceased was a contract labourer but was performing the tasks of a skilled worker carried out by permanent employees, which was not part of his employment.
Pandurang Balaram Babre died on December 22, 2014, after he fell from a tank on which he had climbed to check finish oil.
He fell as ‘the surrounding of the machinery was unclean and dirty’.
The manager of the plant submitted a letter stating that the death of Babre was due to a heart attack.
Babre’s wife and the All India Industrial General Worker Union (AIIGWU) then approached the judicial magistrate.
Srinivas Patki, labour leader fighting the case, said the company management had been violating labour laws. He added, “Babre’s death is an example. There are contract labourers from the plant who have gone on strike for their rights. We hope to win justice in this case at least.”
“We submitted the post-mortem examination report in the death of the worker, which showed that the reason was not heart attack,” said Yogesh Dalvi, counsel for the family of the deceased. He said following this order, all nine would now have to furnish bail in the court and stand trial.
The next hearing would be held on February 6.
When called, company officials said they could not respond immediately to the queries posed by The Hindu . An email to RIL also went unanswered.
- Contract labourer was performing tasks of a skilled worker
Plant manager submitted that the death was due to heart attack
