Employees Union drags General Motors to High Court over Closure Application

Employees Union drags General Motors to High Court over Closure Application

The Union says it's a mere Transfer of Undertaking following GM signing an MoU with the Chinese firm Great Wall Motors

The Bombay High Court is set to hear an urgent plea of the General Motors Employees Union challenging the Closure Application through their Advocate Rahul Kamekar.

The decision to seek the HC's intervention comes following the failure of talks the Union had with the Maharashtra Labour Minister Dilip Walse-Patil. Representatives of General Motors were also present at the meeting.

The main contention of the Union is that the Closure Application should be rejected since the General Motors (GM) Closure Application is faulty as the GM has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Great Wall Motors to sell its business to the Chinese company.

The Union's argument is that in view of the MoU signed, it is not a closure of the GM but a Transfer of Undertaking under the Industrial Disputes Act.

The Union is seeking the HC direction to the Maharashtra government to reject the Closure Application. The other ground cited in the application before the HC is that GM in the Closure Application has stated that certain manufacturing would continue past the proposed date of closure of the Pune unit of GM.

Under Section 25 O (3) of the Industrial Disputes Act, if no order is passed on the Closure Application within 60 days of the application being made, the Closure Application is deemed as approved. The GM had filed the Closure Application on 20 November 2020 and the last date to reject it by the state government is 19 January 2021.

It has alleged that the Government of Maharashtra has purposely not accepted or rejected the Closure Application to ensure it is deemed as approved.

The Union is also seeking the HC to order an enquiry if no order is passed by the State by 19 January, asking the Maharashtra Government reason for failing to do so.