The trainers in Bangalore have all been issued a temporary license for
three months to ensure that the Summer Season is not affected. A
committee it to be set up to look into the ways of tackling the vexed
problem of Provident Fund to the syces and other attendant issues and
act upon the recommendations of the panel. We now have a situation of
syces having no employer and it remains to be seen what stand the Syces
Union which is due to sign an agreement with the Karnataka Trainers
Association takes as the trainers are only license holders for three
months and the duration of the agreement has to be for three years!
The Bangalore Turf Club incorporated a new clause in the licensing
condition following the decision of the Provident Fund Tribunal, New
Delhi which said that the Syces were not the employees of the turf club.
The trainers have got a temporary relief by way of a stay against the
proceedings initiated by the Assistant Commissioner of Provident Fund,
but the matter is sure to come to a boil sooner than later. It is
because of this that the Karnataka Trainers Association have refused to
own up syces as their employees as they would be forced to pay huge
arrears if the Provident Fund has to be paid up eventually. Right now
the trainers are disputing that they are not an establishment and hence
the provisions of the Provident Fund does not apply to them. In Mumbai,
the Western India Trainers Association registered itself as a society
and has been paying the Provident Fund since last several years while
the trainers in Bangalore have been postponing what could eventually
assume threatening proportions.
It was always on cards that the Managing Committee of the Bangalore Turf
Club which had held firm would dilute its position once Dr M A M
Ramaswamy stepped into the scene and was part of the delegation of the
Race Horse Owners and Trainers.
The race goers can now heave a sigh of relief that the races are finally
on because they were not interested in the ongoing clash between the
authorities and the professionals and the political tones that the
dispute had taken. Racing marches on even if haltingly.
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