Officials says it is a first-ever decision taken as per rules set by HR department, under which amount can be held back if the employee exhibits criminal behaviour during tenure
Gratuity worth Rs 5 lakh was withheld from the 14-year-long service of Santosh Mane by the human resources (HR) department, after the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) terminated Mane’s service. But the department is ready to pay similar amount to his kin in the form of provident fund (PF).
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The District and Sessions Court awarded Mane death penalty for ‘murderous driving’. Mane went berserk behind the wheel of an ST bus starting at Swargate depot on January 25, 2012. He killed nine people, injured 35 others and damaged 41 vehicles during the rampage.
MSRTC Divisional Controller (Pune) A G Jadhav said, “Followed by the District and Session Court’s judgment of awarding death penalty to Mane, we took the decision of terminating his service with the MSRTC on April 24.
His gratuity amount is about Rs 5 lakhs, the exact amount is yet to be calculated, will be seized as per the rules set by the HR department. The amount will not be given to him or any of his kins. But we are ready to about equal amount as PF to Mane or his family.
The process of calculating the exact amount commenced recently. At present we are checking whether he owes any money to the MSRTC or not.”
First ever
Jadhav said that Mane’s case is the first-ever wherein the department decided to withhold his gratuity for exhibition of criminal behaviour during his tenure with the MSRTC. u00a0“We have slapped serious charges against several drivers for committing serious road accidents in the past, but their gratuity was never withheld. Their acts were manual mistakes, not a ‘moral downfall’ like that of Mane.”u00a0
Swargate Depot Manager Vijay Divte said, “After calculating the recovering dues from Mane’s 14-year-long service, a No Dues Certificate (NDC) will be issued. Issuing the PF amount by a cheque will be done subsequently. As Mane’s family stays at Kaundhale Village in Solapur district, the procedure will be carried out at Yerawada Central Prison. We had issued Mane the termination order in the prison itself.”u00a0