Sacked airhostess wins 20-yr battle against AI

Mumbai: Mumbai: Patience pays off. The proverbial saying came true for airhostess Shashikala Jatav who has won a legal battle against her employer, Air India, twenty years after the airline gave her the pink slip. She was dismissed from the services when she was pregnant for the second time.
A division bench of Justice P B Majmudar and Justice Anoop Mohta on Thursday dismissed an appeal filed by Air India and directed the airline to reinstate Jatav. "The litigation between the two parties has been going on since the last two decades. Disciplinary proceedings were initiated against the respondent (Jatav) in 1990 by Air India on the grounds that she absented herself on the expiry of leave, which was granted to her. She was pregnant at that time and delivered a child later on. Her child is now an adult, but the legal matter is still on," observed the judges. The court also noted that Air India had tried to settle the case with Jatav, during the legal battle, but it failed.
Jatav was employed as a trainee airhostess on February 17, 1983. Initially, she applied for earned leave from June 1, 1988, to July 1, 1988, which was extended till October 1990. Jatav delivered two children during the said period and extended her leave to look after the infants as her husband was working in Muscat at that time.
Jatav was subjected to departmental enquiry for extending her leave time and again. She was dismissed from the service, by a model standing order ( Central) issued by a deputy director on December 11, 1992, on the grounds that she had remained absent without leave for over 10 days.
Jatav's advocate Mohan Bir Singh argued that though she was entitled to maternity leave up to two pregnancies under service rules, harsh action was taken against Jatav. "She could not present herself for the inquiry as she had two kids to take care of," argued Singh.
18/09/10 Hetal Vyas/Times of India

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: NACIL Sep 2010