SANGAM

No bonus for NOC staff: MoCS

SANGAM PRASAIN

KATHMANDU, AUG 11 -
The Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS) has decided not to pay bonuses to the staff of Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) ending a dispute over the additional benefits. The ministry on Wednesday made it clear that distributing bonuses to the employees of a company reeling under massive losses and debts was not justifiable.

This decision has overridden the agreement reached on Aug. 5 between the NOC’s board and two agitating unions that bonuses would be distributed as per the existing Bonus Act ending a two-day stalemate that had disrupted fuel supplies for one and a half days.

However, it was not clear what the Bonus Act defines. On one side, the Bonus Act allows any corporation to distribute bonus of up to 8 percent of the profit even if it has incurred a cumulative loss; however, on the other hand, it is apparent that the government could stop the distribution process.

At a press meet organized here on Wednesday, Purushottam Ojha, secretary at the MoCS and chairman of the NOC board said that the move was against the government and the anti-corruption body, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) that had also issued order to stop bonus distribution. “We don’t want to go against the decision made by the government and the CIAA,” Ojha said. The state-owned oil monopoly had made a profit of Rs. 3.31 billion in the last fiscal year. NOC had earlier decided to distribute the bonus from its profit of fiscal year 2008/09. It, however, was forced to withdraw its decision following criticism from the government, the CIAA and consumer rights groups.

However, soon after the NOC management withdrew distribution of bonus, the unions started their agitation with their 13-point demand that also incorporated bonus issue as a prime focus.

The unions and the NOC board were at loggerheads after the board reversed its decision of distributing bonus worth Rs. 198.8 million. Dissatisfied union had justified that it was just a provisioning as per the Bonus Act but withdrawing it was to dishonour the employees’ rights. “As per the corporation auditing, the bonus has been allotted for the provisioning but not for distribution purpose,” Ojha said.

For the bonus distribution process, NOC has to request the MoCS. The Finance Ministry then has to give the permission to distribute the bonus. The government has a 98 percent stake in NOC.