The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) employees on Thursday staged a protest at the market regulator’s headquarters demanding reminding withdrawal of the press release that term their grievances as “misplaced” and has “misguided” by external elements.
The staffers staged a protest for nearly one and a half hours demanding withdrawal of the press release issued by Sebi on Wednesday and also sought an immediate resignation of Sebi chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch.
While close to 300 employees gathered outside the Sebi building in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC). A few claimed that the total number of employees in protest across different grades were close to 500.
“The protest is for the purpose of showing dissent and unity against the ‘arm-twisting exercise’ by the top management in the garb of a press release with a fake narrative against all Sebi employees,” said a note circulated by the employees.
This is the second protest by the officials in the last two months after the first “silent protest” done on August 5, a day before they sent the letter on their grievances to the finance ministry.
Several employees said that during the protest, a few senior officials to the level of executive directors (EDs), who in terms of seniority come after the whole-time members (WTMs) and the chairperson, showed solidarity with them.
A few other officials said that there was a meeting held between WTMs and some of the protesting employees. However, the outcome of the same couldn’t be ascertained.
The fresh protest stems from a five-page press release issued by Sebi detailing its stance on the HR crisis at the securities regulator.
Sebi underscored that the email dated August 6 was not sent by employee associations, which had, on the contrary, condemned it. The market watchdog further said it suspected that its “junior officers have been receiving messages from external elements outside their group, effectively instigating them to go to the media, go to the ministry, go to board…perhaps to serve their own purpose.”
The market regulator had shared that the employees had, after a week of the first letter, submitted a list of 16 demands for monetary and non-monetary benefits, including an increase in House Rent Allowance (HRA), and an automatic promotion at lower performance ratings without interview, Sebi said in the release.
Sebi employees had earlier raised a demand for a 55 per cent increase in the HRA over the allowance set in 2023 and an update to the automated management information system for KRAs.
Sebi has held that the current remuneration structure is adequate vis-a-vis industry standards.
The regulator had also pointed out that in the last 2 to 3 years, it had quantified KRAs at the start of the year, monthly targets, accountability for the pendency of applications, end-of-year review performance by a panel, and a promotion policy as per assessment criteria, seniority, and past performance.
First Published: Sep 05 2024 | 6:52 PM IST
