GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE

1.  Introduction:
Employee grievances & complaints which are primarily manifestations of their dissatisfaction against the working conditions, managerial decisions etc. sometime assume serious proportions if not promptly attended to. In the matter of redressal of grievances, though SJVNL welcomes an aggrieved employee to meet his departmental head or the concerned personnel department executive and discuss his grievances, nevertheless in view of the growing size of the organization and the accompanying complexities, the need of formal grievance redressal machinery cannot be under-estimated. Keeping in view this aspect, as also the guidelines received from the Government of India, SJVNL has laid down a formal time bound grievance procedure for redressal of the grievances of the employees.

2.  Objective:
The objective of the Grievance procedure is to provide an easily accessible machinery for settlement of grievances and to adopt measures in SJVNL as would ensure expeditious settlement of grievances of employees leading to increased job satisfaction, resulting in improved productivity and efficiency of the organization.

3.  Applicability:
1.  The grievance procedure will cover all employees of the Company, but shall exclude employees who are deemed to be workers/workmen under the Factories Act, 1948 or the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

2.  The following two categories of employees will not fall within the purview of the grievance procedure and for their cases, the procedure will be as under:

• In the case of executives who are one step below the Board level, the individual grievance may be taken up with the concerned Director.
• Executives reporting directly to the Chairman & Managing Director may approach him for resolving their grievances

4.  Coverage:
1.  'Grievance' for the purpose of grievance procedure would mean only the individual grievances and the, matters under the scope of the procedure, which can be invoked by the aggrieved employee, shall be those relating to grievances arising out of:

• Implementation of the policies/rules or the decisions of the organization;
• Leave;
• Increment;
• Non-extension of benefits under the company rules;
• Interpretation of services rules; and
• Matters of similar nature.

2.  However, grievance pertaining to or arising out of the following shall not come under the purview of grievance procedure:

• Annual performance appraisal/Confidential Reports;
• Promotions including CPC/DPC minutes and decisions;
• Where the grievance does not relate to an individual employee; and
• Any grievance arising out of the discharge or dismissal of an employee.

3.  Grievances pertaining to or arising out of disciplinary action or appeal against such action shall be forwarded to the competent authority as laid down under the CDA Rules and in such cases, the grievance procedure will not apply.

5.  Procedure:
The individual grievance of the employee shall be dealt with as per the procedure laid down below:

1.  Stage-I:
1.  The aggrieved employee shall take up his grievance orally with his immediate superior (not below the rank of Dy. Manager) who shall give a personal hearing and try to resolve the grievance at his level within a period of 7 days. Wherever necessary, the officer concerned can consult the Head of department and/or such other departments before communicating back to the aggrieved employee.

2.  In case the employee is not satisfied, he can submit his grievance in writing in Form -I to the Head of Department concerned or the Head of Personnel Department within 15 days from the date of receipt of oral reply from his immediate superior, as at para 5.1.1.

3.  The Head of Department concerned or the Head of the Personnel department, as the case may be, will record his comments on the grievance within 7 days after making necessary enquiries/obtaining necessary guidelines from other department, if any. The comments, as recorded by the Head of Department/ Head of Personnel Department will be communicated to the aggrieved employee.

2.  Stage -II:
1.  On the grievance submitted by an employee in Form-I to the Head of Department Head of Personnel Department, if the concerned Head of Department/Head of Personnel Department is not able to arrive at any satisfactory decision, he may refer the grievance to the Grievance Settlement Committee.

2.  Alternatively, in case the employee is not satisfied with the decision communicated to him at Stage-I or If he fails to receive the reply within the stipulated period, he may submit his grievance in Form- II within a period of 15 days to the Grievance Settlement Committee.

3.  The Grievance Settlement Committee shall comprise of the following:

a.  At Project:
- Head of the Project/General Manager
- The concerned Head of Department of the aggrieved employee.
- Head of Finance Department
- Head of Personnel Department (Member Secretary)

b.  At Corporate Office:
- The concerned Head of Deptt. of the aggrieved employee.
- Head of Finance Deptt/CFM.
- Head of Personnel Deptt/CPM (Member Secretary)

4.  The Committee will examine the details of the grievance and may also discuss the same with the aggrieved employee, if felt necessary. The Committee shall give its reply to the aggrieved employee within 30 days from the date of receipt of the grievance. However, where felt necessary by the Committee, it may make a recommendation for a final decision by Director (personnel), who will convey his decision within 30 days from the date of receipt of grievance from the Committee. The decision of Director (personnel) shall be final subject to the provisions contained below.

3.  Stage -III:
1.  In exceptional cases and with the concurrence of the Director concerned, the aggrieved employee who is not satisfied with the decision of Grievance Settlement Committee/Director (personnel) will have an option to appeal to Chairman & Managing Director. The Chairman & Managing Director will take a decision and communicate the same within 30 days from the date of receipt of the appeal and his decision will be final and binding.

6.0 General Conditions:
1.  The employee concerned shall bring up his grievance immediately and in any case within a period of 3 months from the date of its occurrence.

2.  If the grievance arises out of an order of the Management, the said order shall be complied with before the employee concerned invokes the grievance procedure.