A letter to the new Director from president Alumni Association, 2012/11/27

(President alumni association has kindly shared with us the following communication with the new director IIT Kanpur.)

Subject: Re: Death of a construction worker

Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2012 19:11:51 -0500

From: President, Alumni Association

To: Director, IITK

CC: manindra, sunilk, rambmisra, sud, imanna, Saurabh Prakash, Ashok Gupta

Dear Professor Manna,

I greatly appreciate it that you took time to write (unlike previous administrations that ignored us). It surely gives us a glimmer of hope since we have reason to believe that you mean to take action on these issues.

When you recently took office as the Director of IIT Kanpur you had sent us a message saying that you were concerned for the safety and statutory dues of the workers engaged for the various projects underway in the campus and had said that you needed some time to sort the issues out and had requested us to show some patience. We had no doubt then (and we don’t have any doubt now either) that you meant what you said and had willingly given you time as requested. We had not even so much as sought a time line from you when you would be able to show results by. Unfortunately however, events have moved ahead of us and there has been yet another tragic death at the campus on Nov 21, 2012 in the wake of a similar incident on October 18, 2012.

I will later respond to your e-mail fully with a detailed report highlighting that you are not being told the truth not only about safety but also about EPF fraud, non-payment of min wages, arbitrary firing of workers, poor treatment of migrant workers, and lack of documentation of workers. Meanwhile, you may like to read the attached report prepared by Raj Sahai in 2010, a 1966 alumnus, about the condition of contract workers at IITK.

For now, I am concerned about the statement you made in your November 26, 2012 e-mail to me in which you said, "The fact that the workers are essentially and predominantly an employee of the contractor and the Institute does not directly supervise the work of the workmen must be kept in mind while recounting the blame of the Institute in such cases." Your statement gives the impression that you are not aware of the Institute’s legal obligations towards these workers and the potential risk that these incidents expose you and the Institute. We believe that those within your administration who for years have ignored their responsibility in the matter are now deliberately wrongly informing you of the true legal position knowing that you have no legal background. We have sought legal opinion on your statement and would, therefore, like to bring the following to your knowledge regarding contract work.

When contract labour is engaged for any work, while the contractor is indeed their immediate employer, the Institute becomes the “principal employer” in respect of such labour. (Some Acts use the expression “principal employer” while others define the expression “employer” in such a manner that the contract workers are his workers.) This is so prescribed by several statutes (Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970; Minimum Wages Act, 1948; Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952; Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948; Employees’ Compensation Act, 1923).

Under the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act it is the responsibility of the “principal employer” to ensure the full and timely payment of the wages of such contract labour and to certify the same. Under the Minimum Wages Act the “employer” is obligated to ensure that the wages that are paid are at a minimum the prescribed minimum wages. Under the Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act the “employer” is obligated to ensure that the PF contributions in respect of these persons (both the employee’s component and the employer’s component) are deposited in their accounts on time. Under the Employees’ State Insurance Act the “principal employer” is obligated to ensure that the ESI contributions in respect of these persons are deposited with the ESIC. Under the Employees’ Compensation Act he is required to pay the compensation to the injured / deceased worker. If for any reason the contractor does not pay / deposit these sums (or pays / deposits less than required) then the “principal employer” / “employer” is obligated to tender the balance payment and is entitled to deduct the sums so paid from payments due to the contractor.

Under each of these Acts the prescribed authorities are entitled to collect these amounts with interest and penalties from the “principal employer” in the event of his failure to ensure such payment. These Acts also prescribe various penalties (including imprisonment) in the event of failure to observe these requirements. Thus there can be no doubt that the Institute has a legal (as well as moral) obligation to ensure compliance of these provisions and that it has the authority to make the contractors carry out their obligations and to deduct their payments if they do not do so.

We therefore do not see how the above statement (as made by you) can be true. You have obviously been incorrectly advised. We believe that the Institute has thus far escaped such action by these authorities because of its name and standing within India and abroad. However, this may not carry on forever. We believe that in the event that this matter were to be made public then the damage to the Institute’s standing would be immeasurably and permanently be done. We hope that you will ensure that this does not happen.

In the event that you have any doubt as to the correctness of any of these matters you may kindly check with any good lawyer. (May we also suggest that you consider engaging a lawyer different from the one who has been advising the Institute thus far because of obvious reasons.)

September 16, 2007 Office Order that you refer to in your e-mail would be a great start. Unfortunately, that Office Order, even after 5 years and lots of work by various committees is yet to be implemented in spite of its warning for “strict compliance by the contractors and all the concerned in the Institute in a time bound manner.”  Instead of making progress on fulfilling its responsibility toward contract workers, the institute has chosen to regress. Objective report by institute’s own committee, which assigned responsibility and gross negligence on the part of contractors and IWD officials, is being ignored in favor of one-man retired CPWD officer’s report which not only defy commonsense it is also logically inconsistent and has little credibility. Once again new deaths are being investigated by more of the same people. Four deaths have occurred in the last 17 months and not even one IWD official or contractor has been held accountable!

We know that the task you have been handed over is tough because those within the administration (which you now have to work with) who have not been carrying out their duties diligently and according to the law will try to prevent you from knowing the truth or doing what is right for fear of being exposed. However, you must act more because it is the right thing to do; it also is a legal requirement which, if not obeyed, exposes you and the Institute to legal claims and penalties and would sully its good name.

Our best wishes are with you. We hereby offer you such support as you may need in this exercise.

With best regards,

Sincerely,

Ashok Gupta

Ashok K. Gupta, Professor of Marketing

Ohio University, College of Business, ███████████

E-mail: ███████████   Phone: ███████████

Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible --- Anonymous

On 11/26/2012 1:21 PM, Prof. Indranil Manna wrote:

Dear Prof. Gupta, 

I fully share your anguish and concern expressed about the recent tragic death of a construction worker on the campus of the Institute.  As you are aware, I have recently taken over as the Director of this Institute and this incident has really shaken my conscience, especially considering that this fateful incident has happened closely on the heels of another incident of the almost same nature on 18.10.2012.  

You would appreciate that I am still grappling with various mechanisms that are put in place to prevent such happenings on the campus.  I am told that the Institute has been following various measures even going beyond its statutory responsibilities and ensuring that the exploitation of workers, in any form, is addressed squarely.  It is a matter of anguish that in spite of various mechanism in place, the Institute has to put up with such incidents.  Although it is impossible to compensate the human loss in real terms, but the Institute is going all the way to facilitate award of due compensation to the bereaved family members. 

Loss of human life, I personally feel, is always attributable to human negligence, but you would agree that how far such negligence is blame-worthy or how the blame can be apportioned is always contentious and debatable.  Criminal negligence always calls for appropriate punishments as per law, but you would agree that there is a proper way established by law for attributing the blame on somebody and award of consequential punishment on the delinquent.  As such, the negligence has to be established based on the circumstances of each case, then only appropriate punishment can be awarded to a delinquent employee/contractor.  One would agree that even for black-listing a Firm, prima facie negligence or wanton acts of misdeeds must be placed on record, else such actions are bound to fail under judicial scrutiny. 

I am told, the Institute has published a detailed Office Order on 16th September, 2007 enumerating the various measures/steps that are to be ensured not only by the contractors but also various administrators, who are responsible for the concerned projects.  I am also told that in each case, the Institute is immediately releasing a communiqué giving brief account of the accident and rendering all possible helps to ensure that the compensation payable in each case is released as expeditiously as possible and the concerned authorities saddled with this responsibility are immediately posted with necessary details that are available with the Institute.  That apart, the Institute is also appointing a fact-finding committee under an appropriate independent officer to look into the cause and circumstances of each incident to apportion the blame, if any, and suggest remedial measures to be put in place.  This is apart from the criminal investigation that is carried out by the Police authorities as per the law of the land.  Unfortunately, none of the investigations/fact-findings, have returned the finding of guilt or culpable negligence on the part of the administrators or the concerned contractors, making it very difficult for the Institute to take any action against any of them.  Albeit, such finding have indicated that there have been contributory negligence on the part of the victims/deceased.  

The fact that the workers are essentially and predominantly an employee of the contractor and the Institute does not directly supervise the work of the workmen must be kept in mind while recounting the blame of the Institute in such cases.  However, the Institute can certainly impress upon the contractors to adopt all the norms of safety at work place and failure to do so may attract penal action against the contractor.   This is where the Institute is required to keep its focus on.   As such, the Institute is seriously contemplating of appointing a Safety Inspector to supervise safety norms on each work sites.   

In the recent incident, as you are aware, a Fact-Finding Committee headed by a retired Addl Director General of CPWD has been set up and the Committee has already collected all the evidences surrounding the incidents and its report will be hopefully made available within a week.   Further action, as per the report and recommendations of the Committee shall be taken by the Institute.     

In view of the foregoing, I earnestly request you and the Alumni Association at large, to kindly appreciate the efforts made by the Institute in the face of several constraints, and not to precipitate negative sentiment against the Institute.  The Institute is certainly striving hard to provide for safe and beneficial atmosphere to all workers on its campus.  However, if there is any gap or loop-holes, the same may be pointed out for corrective measures.  

Best regards,

Yours sincerely,   

I. Manna

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Director,

Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

Kanpur – 208016, Uttar Pradesh, India

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