Business
NITES files complaint with Centre against Infosys over employment clause for staffers

Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES) has raised a complaint against IT giant Infosys with the Centre over the contract guidelines for restricting former employees from working with competitors TCS, Wipro, Cognizant, IBM and Accenture.
NITES, an NGO working for welfare and benefits of IT/ITES and its related sector employees and actions focused on various issues faced by IT/ITeS/BPO/KPO employees, has submitted an official complaint to the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India and Ministry of Corporate Affairs against Infosys in this regard.
In its complaint NITES has urged for appropriate action against Infosys and demanded issuing necessary orders to Infosys Ltd for removing such illegal, unethical and arbitrary clauses from the employment agreements, according to a statement by NITES.
Infosys, one of the leading Indian IT companies of the world based in Bengaluru has issued a new guideline for resigned employees recently not to join work with specified competitors for 6 months. Infosys employees, who are planning for resignation and who have resigned, raised concerns about their career being affected with the new rule.
The rule added as a clause in the offer letter stated, “I agree that for a period of 6 months following the termination of my employment with Infosys for any reason, I will not; a. accept any offer of employment from any customer, where I had worked in a professional capacity with that Customer in 12 months immediately preceding the termination of my employment with Infosys.
b. accept any offer of employment from a named competitor of Infosys, if my employment with such named competitor would involve me having to work with a customer with whom I had worked in the 12 months immediately preceding the termination of my employment with Infosys,” according to sources.
The sources further stated that the company has named five major IT firms as their competitors: TCS, IBM, Cognizant, Wipro and Accenture. It is said that Infosys has taken the decision to counter severe attrition rates.
Harpreet Saluja, President NITES, has lodged a complaint stating that the clause for Infosys employees is illegal under Section 27 of the Contract Act and urged that the company should be stopped from enforcing it.
National
Bodies of three workers recovered from flooded illegal coal mine in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh

Hazaribagh, June 3: Thirteen days after they were trapped, the bodies of three workers have been recovered from an illegal coal mine in Keredari block of Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh district, officials said on Tuesday.
The deceased, whose bodies were recovered late on Monday night, have been identified as Pramod Shah, 45, Umesh Kumar, 25, and Naushad Ansari, 24 — all residents of Kandaber village under the Keredari police station area.
The three men were reportedly swept into the mine on May 21, when heavy rainfall caused the Khawa River to swell.
Villagers said the strong current pushed the workers into one of the numerous illegal tunnels that dot the region, many of which are controlled by coal mafias and continue to operate despite the risks involved.
The mine shaft where they were trapped was more than 100 feet deep and quickly flooded, making rescue efforts extremely challenging.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) conducted a three-day operation to locate and retrieve the bodies but had to suspend efforts due to waterlogging.
Subsequently, the task of dewatering the mine was taken up by NTPC and a private company. After days of continuous pumping, the water level finally receded, which enabled local villagers to recover the bodies late on Monday night.
On Tuesday morning, police sent the bodies for autopsy to Sheikh Bhikhari Medical College and Hospital in Hazaribagh. After the post-mortem, the bodies were brought back to Kandaber and cremated on Tuesday afternoon.
The incident plunged the village into mourning, with relatives and neighbours breaking down as the news spread.
There were scenes of chaos and wailing as the bodies were brought into the village.
Following the recovery, villagers renewed calls for compensation and the provision of government jobs for one dependent of each deceased worker.
Despite repeated incidents, illegal mining continues unabated in the Khawa river belt of Keredari, drawing hundreds of locals desperate for work and vulnerable to exploitation.
Crime
WBSSC’s notification for fresh teachers’ recruitment challenged at Calcutta HC

Kolkata, June 3: The notification issued by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) to fill vacant posts of teachers in state-run schools has been challenged at the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday.
The single-judge vacation bench of Justice Raja Basu Chowdhury admitted the petition. The matter is likely to come up for a hearing at his bench on June 5.
The petitioner claimed that certain points in the notification, especially those as regards to changed weightage criteria in the distribution of total marks in the recruitment process, violated the Supreme Court’s directives on fresh recruitments.
The main ground on which the notification was challenged was that the weightage criteria in the distribution of total marks had changed from those in 2016.
As per the new notification issued last week, the written examination in the fresh recruitment process will carry 60 marks, as against 55 for the 2016 panel.
Secondly, the weightage criterion for educational qualification in the fresh recruitment process is just 10 as against 35 for the 2016 panel.
Most importantly, two new weightage criteria, each carrying 10 marks, “past teaching experience” and “lecture demonstration”, have been introduced.
Soon after the notification was issued, several legal minds apprehended that the notification may face legal hurdles because of the changes in weightage criteria in total marks distribution.
Legal minds felt that while two new weightage criteria were introduced to give an advantage to the teachers from the 2016 panel who lost their jobs. They opined that the changed criteria would be disadvantageous for fresher candidates.
Bringing about changes in the weightage criteria was grossly illegal since the same weightage criteria, which applied to the 2016 panel, should also be there in the fresh recruitment process, they said.
Now their apprehensions have come true after a petition challenging the notification was filed at the Calcutta High Court, exactly on the points highlighted.
On April 3 this year, the Supreme Court’s division bench of erstwhile Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar upheld a previous order by the Calcutta High Court’s division bench of Justice Debangshu Basak and Justice Shabbar Rashidi cancelling 25,753 school jobs in West Bengal.
The Apex Court also accepted the observation of the Calcutta High Court that the entire panel of 25,753 candidates had to be cancelled because of the failure of the state government and the commission to segregate the “untainted” candidates from the “tainted” ones.
The state government and West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) had already filed review petitions at the Apex Court on this issue.
International
Australian scientists use underwater robots to explore remote reefs in South Pacific expedition

Sydney, June 3: Australian scientists are using cutting-edge underwater robots to explore remote and largely uncharted reef systems in the South Pacific, the University of Sydney said on Tuesday.
As part of a major international expedition, Australian scientists are mapping deep-sea habitats and biodiversity near Norfolk Island, an isolated Australian territory 1,600 km northeast of Sydney, one of the South Pacific’s most ecologically important regions, according to a university press release.
Its location and mix of tropical and temperate ecosystems make it key to tracking species shifts and climate change impacts, the release said.
Equipped with high-resolution cameras and sensors, the Autonomous Underwater Vehicles are capturing thousands of images to create 3D maps of the seafloor and document marine life in unprecedented detail, it said, adding underwater robots serve as the eyes and hands of scientists, safely exploring deep-sea areas beyond the reach of human divers.
“It’s the first time that parts of the seabed in the Norfolk Ridge will be imaged in this detail,” said Stefan Williams from the University of Sydney’s Australian Center for Robotics.
The expedition unites scientists from Australia and New Zealand to map the seafloor and collect marine specimens such as fish, corals, molluscs and algae to enhance knowledge of regional biodiversity, the researchers said.
“Norfolk Island is a key oceanic stepping stone for species between tropical New Caledonia and temperate New Zealand,” said Shane Ahyong, acting chief scientist at the Australian Museum Research Institute, leading the second phase of the Norfolk Island scientific expedition.
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