Thiruvananthapuram: Women employees of the textile shop, recently inspected by the Mayor, are working beyond 7 pm, in the shop flouting Section 5 (20) of the Kerala Shops and Commercial Establishments Act. It was around 9.50 pm on Friday, that Deccan Chronicle tried the landline number of Ramachandran Textiles. The phone was answered by a female voice in Tamil, who, when asked, identified herself as the receptionist.
The Kerala Shops and Commercial Establishment Act states that women employees should not work between 7 pm and 6 am. Ramachandran Textiles Chief Operating Officer R Sadguna claimed he did not know this law. Ramachandran Textiles was in the news on Thursday, when Mayor V. K. Prasanth conducted a surprise visit to the accommodation provided to its female employees.
The space which had 264 beds according to the Mayor, had just 14 toilets and 5 bathrooms for close to 300 women employees. Even before the Mayor’s visit, the Labour Department officials had raided the shop area, and charged the establishment with cases related to the Act.
The bottomline is that such raids have not deterred the establishment from flouting more rules. Additional Labour Commissioner (Enforcement) A Alexander says, “The government has allowed certain exemptions on the 7 pm rule. Even then, an employee should not be allowed to work beyond 10.5 hours.”
He adds that while it was possible that other shops too were flouting the rule of making employees work beyond the stipulated 10.5 hours, Labour Department officials had their limitations. “We are severely short-staffed with just around 5 inspectors in the city. We cannot conduct raids daily. Even after a notice is served, it takes a long time before justice could be served,” he says.
