The response of Bhutan Broadcasting Service’s Managing Director to labour ministry’s reminder letter says BBS management was surprised with the Department of Labour’s decision to penalise the media house.
“We had been told at the joint sitting that the labour department’s main objective was to resolve the dispute between the parties and not pass judgement.”
It says violation of Recruitment and Selection Regulation, 2012 by BBS was also not mentioned during the joint sitting.
The letter goes on to say that while the BBS Management had submitted only one written statement and had given verbal response to the aggrieved party, the labour department had gone ahead with the case when it was being reviewed by a second committee.
The Ministry of Labour and Human Resources had sent a reminder letter to the Bhutan Broadcasting Service’s Chairman to respond to their directives. Labour ministry had directed BBS to pay a penalty of Nu 11,250 for violating the procedures of regulation while recruiting a manager.
One of the candidates, also an employee of BBS, had put up his grievances to the management of not following due procedure. The candidate said the management had not altered the decision and issued the appointee’s office order six days after the result was declared. He then appealed to the labour ministry for intervention.
The letter from BBS Management defends its decision to recruit the particular manager. It says the management committee, which took the decision, have all the general managers and the Managing Director. It says the committee is the highest decision making body of BBS, besides BBS Board of Directors.
It says the management committee members have been selecting managers without interview process since 2011.
The management also added the manager selection was in line with the existing system of Manager Selection and was not a new system that was adopted to give undue advantage to candidates. “Re-conduct of this interview could result in having to re-conduct all manager recruitment since 2011.
Officials from the Ministry of Labour and Human Resources say the case will be reviewed according to the facts and submissions.
