Centre relaxes norms for IT companies amid COVID-19; allows employees to work from home

In a bid to prevent the spread of Coronavirus, the central government on Friday provided certain exemptions in the terms and conditions for Indian IT companies to facilitate them in offering work from home (WFH) option to their employees till April 30. So far, the total number of positive cases in India has risen up to 82 and two death have been reported. 

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad took to Twitter and posted a picture along with the order. In his tweet, the Union Minister made a request on behalf of the Association of Software and Service Companies for provisions of certain exemptions that will facilitate the Indian IT companies to offer work from home to their employees.

As per the order, the department exempted the requirement for the security deposit, agreement and prior permission for WFH.

"In the context of Coronavirus disease and the request from other service providers (OSPs) and in the larger public interest, the department has decided to grant the following relaxations for a period up to April 30, 2020, in the terms and conditions for the other service providers issued in respect of work from home," the order said.

"The requirement of authorised service providers provisioned secured VPN configured using 'static IP' address by themselves for interconnection between home agent position and OSP centre with pre-defined locations," it added.

Furthermore, the order said that in case of violation of terms and conditions of WFH facility by any agent or employee, or by the OSP during the period, the OSP shall be subjected to a penalty up to Rs 5 lakh per WFH location which is in violation.

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Coronavirus in India

As of date, the total number of positive cases in India has risen up to 82 - Haryana-15, Telangana-1, Rajasthan-3, Andhra Pradesh - 1, Karnataka-5, Jammu-1, Ladakh-3, Maharashtra- 16, Tamil Nadu-1, Uttar Pradesh-10, Delhi-6, Punjab-1, Kerala-19 (out of which 3 recovered). As per latest reports, two deaths have been reported in Kalaburagi and West Delhi respectively. 

India has suspended all visas, barring for a few categories such as diplomatic and employment apart from keeping in abeyance the visa-free travel facility to OCI cardholders till April 15. Moreover, the Centre has “strongly advised” Indians to avoid all non-essential travel abroad. The government is also monitoring all suspected cases and issued preventive advisories. 

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Coronavirus crisis

First detected in Wuhan in December 2019, COVID-19- the novel coronavirus has affected nearly 118 countries in the world. Presently, there are over 1,24,518 confirmed cases of COVID-19 which has led to the death of 4,607 people. As there is no vaccine or specific antiviral medicine to treat COVID-19, countries have been grappling with all possible mechanisms to contain its scope. So far, China, South Korea, Italy, and Iran have witnessed the most number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus.

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