SBI selected panel staff seek justice

Vijayawada: The State Bank of India (SBI) Selected Panel Employees Association members who were dismissed from service without prior intimation in 1997 took part in a rally from Vijayawada Railway Station to Dharna Chowk here on Friday, demanding justice.

Later, the employees took part in hunger strike demanding that the government implement the court orders to reinstate the panel employees back into service, remove outsourcing policy and provide permanent livelihood to all the selected panel employees.

The association president, SK Ajmeersha spoke to the media persons and said the bank management had sacked the panel employees who were working for more than 15 years in SBI on March 31, 1997, without any prior notice. All the employees were selected by SBI through interview which was held in 1989 through proper channel. He said that after they were sacked by the SBI management, they had approached the court for justice and the court had given order in favour of the panel employees association, but the management was reluctant to implement the court order.

He said that the court had given order in their favour in 1998, 2005 and 2014. He further expressed his agony that it was about 21 years they had been struggling to cope up with their families. They had been approaching courts and the management to do justice, but in vain.

He said that in 1997 there were about 2,000 employees fighting for justice and the number was dropped to 1,200 dues to death and old age. He demanded that the management implement the court orders, provide permanent livelihood to all the selected panel employees and remove outsourcing policy.