The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed the state government to constitute a committee for assessing how far the recommendations of Manisana Singh Wage Board for Journalists would be applicable for the employees of Basumati Corporation, the state-owned sick PSU.

Justice S P Talukdar directed the government to constitute this committee within the next four months. The court said the committee will place the report within 12 weeks of its formation. A counsel of the state government pleaded that the recommendations of the Manisana committee were not applicable for the employees of the Basumati Corporation since it was incurring losses.

On November 18, 2008, the state government had declared the closure of ailing Basumati Corporation with effect from February 28, 2009. After the announcement, the 212 employees of the sick PSU had filed a petition in the Calcutta High Court in February this year, challenging the decision of the state government to close down the corporation.

Advocate Suchitra Ray Saha, counsel of Basumati Corporation, said that Basumati has not formally shutdown as yet. “There has been no formal closure of the corporation. However, the corporation is not functioning on a normal basis,” said Saha.

According to S K Nurul Haq, principal secretary of the Department of Information and Culture under which Basumati falls, the government has not yet taken any decision and the employees are being paid their salaries from the Rs 5-crore Basumati Corporation reserve fund.

“The issue of Basumati is still unresolved. While the Early Retirement Scheme policy adopted by the government has not been accepted by the employees, they want the government to pay their salaries from the state exchequer,” said Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, leader of TMC trade union wing.