The Rajasthan Adult Education Association (RAEA), a premier non-government organisation (NGO) and a defunct executive body, has been accused of dis- crimination against a regular employee in the ongoing Covid-19 times. The NGO, which has been working in the area of literacy and education since 1973 and is currently on extended lease due to the pandemic, is being accused of functioning arbitrarily and cornering resources raised from public money.
“The three-year term of the current executive has expired in April 2020. Since the corona pandemic is there, it has been given extended term to carry out routine work. But the chairman and his team are doing every bit to exploit resources and wealth of this pristine NGO,” said an employee who didn’t want to be named. The staff went on to allege that the functionaries in this executive are conspiring to embezzle assets of this NGO, which has been set up on prime land at Jhalana Institutional Area spread across 8,000 sq metre.
The “defunct” executive body of NGO had illegally terminated services of a woman employee in July this year after depriving her from her monthly salary for straight 17 months. The victim, Rachna Siddha, had been working there for the last 25 years.
The chairman and secretary, who got extended lease of life due to corona, fired a regular employee during these difficult times when the state government has asked employers to observe empathy towards employees. “They abruptly terminated my services without giving any prior notice. And that too when the executive body was defunct and was in the interim period. Since the term of the elected body expired in April this year, they have no right to take any policy decision like terminating services of a permanent employee,” she alleged.
Rachna said that the management has cited lack of funds as the reason behind her sacking even as the management had not affected any other cost-cutting measures apart from terminating her. “They say that they have been giving me salary for the last three years without any work and fund. If that is the case then what made them buy an SUV for chairman in December 2017 and re-employ a retired person Dinesh Purohit on contract? Purohit, 68, has no qualification, other than being chair- man’s ‘hitman’. If work is not left and the organisation is reeling under financial crisis, why could the chairman not resist
the temptation to buy a brand-new vehicle from public money for his personal use? When an organisation has money to pay an employed person, it can’t give lack of funds as reason for sacking me,” Rachna alleged.
She also points out that the executive body discriminated against her on grounds of her gender. She alleged that in the last 25 years, she didn’t get any promotion and had to fight tooth and nail to get the benefit of the Provident Fund which is the right of every employee.
Rachna said that the NGO had singled her out and didn’t pay her monthly wages for 17 months without ascertaining any reason. During the same period many employees got promotion and hefty salary hikes but she was being deprived of her rightful wages. The torture was so severe that the management didn’t reply to her request letters and follow up reminders for releasing salaries. She alleged that the callousness of the management was at the peak when her husband had to undergo a heart procedure and she was still denied her rightful dues.
The chairman of RAEA, Ramesh Thanvi, said that the organisation had no funds and that is the reason for Rachna’s termination.
