Nashik: The district administration has added the names of 15 employees of Karmaveer Kakasaheb Wagh Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Ltd, Niphad, to the record of rights of land owned by the factory as part of recovery of dues for these employees.
"The names have been included in the record of rights of the property belonging to the cooperative sugar factory after the administrator failed to respond to the notices issued. This is as per the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code 1966 in which the recovery has to be carried out as per the court order – in this case by the Industrial Court, Nashik," said Niphad tehsildar Vishal Naikwade.
The tehsildar said that the process of adding the names to the land records was carried out as per the orders of the additional district collector, Nashik. "If the factory fails to take measures, the taluka administration will further attach the bank accounts of the factory to ensure that the recovery starts at the earliest and also the auctioning of the property, as the case may be," said the officer.
Employed by the factory on a "temporary" basis in 1977, the employees, fighting for their right of being regularised by the factory against the factory administration, sought help from the Industrial Court of Nashik, which ruled in their favour in 2010.
Of the 170 employees fighting against the factory, only 15 cases were registered while others withdrew.
The order was challenged in the High Court of Bombay.
"Since that appeal was rejected by Bombay High Court in 2024, the industrial court in Nashik issued a recovery certificate in Sept 2024. We took the matter to the additional collector of Nashik who issued the orders to the tehsildar of Niphad to include our names in the record of rights of the factory," said one of the employees of the factory.
"Our amounts are limited, and the factory could have easily settled them then. But it has wasted time and money of the public (cooperative factory) for challenging the case in the court despite the fact that the Industrial Court clearly mentioned that the employees had the right to be regularised," he added and hoped that this step would help them realise their dues they have been waiting for all these years.
