No notification for 5-day banking week, govt calls viral gazette fake
PIB Fact Check confirms Finance Ministry issued no such notification. The document declaring all Saturdays as bank holidays is fake.
New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): The government on Thursday rejected the viral report on social media about bank employees being given leave every Saturday, saying no such notification has been issued by the Finance Ministry.
The fact-checking unit of the Public Information and Broadcasting (PIB), under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, posted on the social media platform 'X', saying, "A gazette purportedly from the Ministry of Finance (Department of Financial Services) is going viral on social media, claiming that the central government has declared every Saturday as a public holiday for all public sector banks, including SBI."
The post further stated, "The document that is going viral is fake. The Finance Ministry has not issued any notification declaring every Saturday a holiday for public sector banks."
A document titled "The Gazette of India" was going viral on social media, stating that in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 25 of the Instruments of Exchange Act, 1881 (26 of 1881), the Government of India, in the public interest, hereby declares every Saturday as a weekly holiday for all branches of all public sector banks (including the State Bank of India). It also stated that this notification will come into effect with immediate effect.
Earlier, government bank employees had announced a strike from September 28-30 demanding a 5-day working week.
However, in a meeting held between the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) and the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) on Sunday night, it was agreed to postpone the agitation and strike programme after discussions on various pending issues.
According to the UFBU, a meeting was held between IBA and UFBU representatives at around 9:30 pm on Sunday. After detailed discussions, it was decided to continue further dialogue and resolution on various issues, including declaring the remainder of Saturday a bank holiday. Following this, the UFBU agreed to postpone its proposed agitational programs and strike.
The meeting decided to immediately constitute a high-level committee of the IBA and UFBU to consider the issue of declaring the remaining Saturdays as holidays for banks. This committee will consider all possible options related to a five-day banking week and will also engage with various stakeholders to find a solution that is acceptable to employees and other stakeholders, as well as bank customers.