Auto maker, Maruti Suzuki has said that it has the rights to offer higher than normal severance packages to some of the striking workers, over its full and final settlement with 30 workers involved in the Manesar strike.

The company offering its comments for the first time on the controversial final settlement said that it was reached with the 30 workers, who were under suspension and facing an inquiry, after the intervention of the state government.

The company stressed that the deal reached with the workers in within the ambit of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. The company is being criticized by some after it decided to pay Rs 16 lakh each to union leader Sonu Gujjar and other workers. Gujjar has left the company after receiving his share of the hefty severance package.

The amount is much more than the amount they would have received under a normal severance package or voluntary retirement scheme. Some workers accused the company of trying to break the protest by offering more money to some of the workers.

A Maruti Suzuki spokesperson said, "The company can certainly give a settlement to an individual higher than the rules of severance based on the appropriate approval process. Further, if it is a settlement with the involvement of the government under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, then it is perfectly legal."