The staff of Air India had petitioned against the eviction notice issued to them to vacate the staff quarters. The employees had been told that if they failed to vacate the quarters, they would end up having double penalty rent and damages being deducted from their salary.
However, the Bombay High Court (HC) has rejected the petition filed by the employees’ unions of Air India and has allowed the airline to go ahead with the eviction of its staff from the quarters at Kalina, in the suburbs of Mumbai, under the Public Premises Act . The order was given by an HC bench comprising Acting Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice Sandeep Marne.
This order had earlier been stayed for two weeks so that the employees’ associations could approach the Supreme Court. Therefore, the HC has requested Air India to not cut the penalty rent or damages from the salaries of the staff, for those two weeks.
The petitioners argue that housing is a part of the employment with the airline, while the airline denies this. As per Air India, the houses are allotted to the staff by drawing a list whenever the accommodation becomes available. Therefore, the occupants are simply licensees and the houses are not allotted to them as an integral part of the terms and conditions of employment.
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