New Delhi:- The Supreme Court today stopped short of passing an order asking the Armed Forces Tribunal to examine the service conditions of ‘army porters’ who have been agitating with the Centre for regularisation of their services and sought the ‘real picture’ about them.
The apex court had framed questions for the tribunal to examine the issues plaguing the army porters, the civilian part of the army deployed in some sectors like Nowshera (Rajouri) in Jammu and Kashmir but the Centre requested that it be given a week’s time to analyse the aspect.
“Now that I have got to know the mood of the court, let me have some reaction time. Let me come back next week,” Additional Solicitor General P S Patwalia pleaded before the bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur which posted the matter for hearing on July 29.
However, before heeding to the plea of the law officer, the bench, also comprising Justices F M I Kalifulla and A M Khanwilkar, said, “We want to have a real picture placed before us.
“We want to know the larger picture. A large number of people are working as porters with the army in the region. The report will speak,” the bench, which had already framed number of questions to be looked into by the tribunal, said.
It said it wanted the report of the tribunal on number of porters deployed by the army, the condition of their employment and nature of work they are asked to perform.
It said it would like the tribunal to examine the duration of hours the porters are pressed into service and their requirment for the security forces.
The bench had also framed the question about ammunition carried by the porters and wanted to know what type of records are maintained and can there be a way to improve the service condition.
While the bench was about to pass the order on the issues, the ASG said, “We are not shying away from the report but there is some practice in the army.
PTI
