Why are union elections being delayed, HC asks Singareni Collieries

Hyderabad: The Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) told a division bench of the Telangana High Court on Thursday that it could not complete the trade union elections by the end of October, as directed by a single judge, who had declined to give an extension.

To this, a bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice N.V. Sravan Kumar on Thursday sought the responses by October 11 from the Union labour ministry, TS energy department, Singareni Collieries workers union and the Telangana Boggu Gani Karmika Sangam.

Senior counsel Aditya Sondhi and standing counsel P. Sriharsha Reddy, representing SCCL, said the state administration would be occupied by the Assembly elections till December. Out of the 15 trade unions, 13 had agreed to defer the elections.

The bench observed, “despite directions of the court… despite the extension of time, why are elections not being conducted?”

The Centre had earlier filed an interim application before the single judge complaining that the SCCL and state machinery were not supporting the conduct of elections. The single judge will hear the application in a day or two.