Telangana HC refuses to defer Singareni Collieries trade union elections

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Thursday refused the state government’s request to defer the trade union elections of Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) and directed it to conduct them on December 27, as scheduled.

With the division bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Anil Kumar Jukanti disposing of the energy department’s plea seeking postponement of polls till March 2023, the Central labour department, state government and SCCL management have to conduct the elections as directed and submit a compliance report by December 29.

The government had contended that it was yet to familiarise itself with the administrative procedure, given that it only recently took charge, and also transfers of IAS and IPS officers, who have to supervise the polls.

Additional Advocate General Tera Rajanikanth Reddy on Thursday submitted that the voter list for the SCCL polls had to be finalised and sought more time, also citing a need for postal ballots in Delhi, Odisha and other states. He requested the court modify its order accordingly.

However, Chief Justice Aradhe rejected the request and the bench observed that the elections were scheduled originally for October 2022, but the government and managing committee of SCCL had got them postponed by citing various reasons including the November 30 state Assembly elections.

The court recalled that the state government, represented by the Chief Secretary through the then Additional Advocate General, on November 11, gave an undertaking that it would complete the election process by the end of the year.