Maruti lockout pushes Centre to initiate talks

The Centre is looking into the labour unrest at the Maruti Suzuki's Manesar plant at the earliest. The corporate affairs ministry will soon take up the matter with other related ministries including the labour ministry to examine the case and address the issue in a structured manner.

"I will take up the matter with various stakeholders and even other ministries to see how the issue can be resolved," said M Veerappa Moily, corporate affairs minister. "The industrial belt including Gurgaon and Manesar has been coming up very well and this kind of incident is a serious dent in the corporate image, we need to immediately look into the issue."

The management of the car maker has already asked the Haryana government to launch a probe into the incident and take appropriate action.

Moily, however, said it is too premature to indicate the steps that would be taken to resolve the issue. "We will look into it and see what can be done to sort this issue but at this stage, I cannot indicate what those would be," he said.

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A senior government official, who did not wish to be identified, said that though it is a state matter, the incident has got the government worried as foreign investments have slowed due to policy paralysis. "This incident, though, is not related to any policy issue would further dent India as an investment destination and the government would look into the various issues including labour laws and corporate governance,' the official said.

The official also said that the government which is trying to woo investors would have to ensure "some protection" to the shareholders.

"Since Maruti is a listed company, it can also appoint its representative on its board of directors and simultaneously set up a task force to look into the matter," legal expert Manoj Kumar said.

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