Layoffs: H’bad techies organise ‘walk for justice’

Suresh Dharur

Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, August 19

A large number of techies in Hyderabad hit the streets to protest a wave of retrenchments in the Information Technology sector in the city.

Under the banner ‘Forum for IT Professionals’ (ForIT), the employees took out “walk for justice” near Hi-Tech city, the IT hub of the city.

They raised slogans demanding justice for those who had lost jobs recently. “It is illegal to retrench employees under the guise of underperformance. Employees are protected under the law of the land and no one can be fired without due process of law,” Kiran Chandra, founder member of ForIT, said.

Members of the forum said though several petitions had been filed with the Hyderabad labour commissioner, the authorities had turned a blind eye. This forced them to file a petition in the High Court.

The massive layoffs are being attributed to slump in the growth of the IT sector and automation. It is estimated that about 20,000 people were laid off in the past three months. “The companies cannot follow ‘hire and fire’ policy when we are protected by the law of the land,” said Praveen Chandrahas, a member of the Forum.

The techies’ main demands included immediate stoppage of retrenchments and reinstatement of sacked employees. Last month, the Hyderabad High Court served a notice to Tech Mahindra after four of its retrenched employees had moved the court over alleged illegal terminations by the company.