Considering the report to be highly motivated and totally baseless, the CCPA has rejected all the points and analyses placed by the NCLR.

``To campaign for the rights of labour is a laudable objective, but if it is based on the misrepresentation of facts and the sole purpose is aimed at maligning an industry which has a track record of excellent industrial relations, it needs to be contested,'' said the CCPA.

The NCLR had stated that the tea plantation industry in India survives on the sweat and toil of forced labour. Strongly objecting to this, the CCPA has said that the workers in tea plantations are free to resign from service if they choose to do so and their services cannot be arbitrarily terminated except in thecases of extreme misconduct.

Moreover, the conditions of work in the tea plantations, working hours, leave etc are governed by the Plantation Labour Act which also confers other facilities like free housing and medical facilities. Providend fund and gratuity is received according to all norms.

On retirement of a worker, the resultant vacancy is filled by an eligible member of a family. The convention which has developed as a result of the demands of workers themselves and which denies the employer the right to make a recruitment choice in filling up of vacancies arising out of natural wastage has been misinterpreted by the NCLR report to state that `the workers are captives to the tea garden owners,' said CCPA.

According to the CCPA, workers in the tea gardens are highly unionised and the rights of the workers are zealously guarded by these operations in the various areas of operation.

Hence the fact that the workers do not have the freedom in the exercise of their right to join trade unions of theirchoice in Assam is untrue altogether, CCPA added.

The CCPA has also alleged that the NCLR has also made allegations against employment of temporary workers in the tea plantations. The plantation associations have said that temporary workers are generally employed for a limited period in a seasonal industry with a harvesting season spread over 6-7 months.

``The temporary workers are drawn from the unemployed dependents of the permanent workers, resident in the estates and such employment helps to supplement the total family income in individual households. There is no truth in the allegation made about the permanent workforce and substituting them with casual workers,'' said the CCPA.

The NCLR report on the employment of child labour in the tea plantations is also misleading, according to the CCPA. The tea plantations have gone beyond the provisions of the Plantation Labour Act in employment of young persons and totally stopped such employment below the age of 15, it said.