Dave Girishbhai Vallabhbhai vs The State Of Gujarat

Headnote AI-drafted · Reviewed and approved

The appellants, workmen engaged as Wireless Operators at Lakhanka Dam, challenged the order of the learned Single Judge which had set aside the Labour Court's award directing their reinstatement with continuity of service and 30% backwages following oral termination alleged to be in breach of Sections 25F, 25G and 25H of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. The Single Judge had held that the Labour Court's findings regarding breach of Section 25F were not based on cogent evidence and that continuous service had not been proved, and that breach of Sections 25G and 25H was also not established as no retention of juniors or fresh appointments in the same category was shown.

The workmen deposed that they had each worked continuously for six years at a monthly salary of Rs. 600/- but were treated as rojamdars without being given presence cards, salary slips or identity cards. They asserted that 240 days of service were completed in each year of their engagement and sought production of registers and salary slips in the employer's custody. The employer denied illegal termination and maintained that the workmen were daily-rated workers and that no question of retrenchment compensation arose.

The Letters Patent Appeals, arising from a common judgment dated 10.04.2018 in the respective Special Civil Applications, were heard together and disposed of by this judgment. The Division Bench examined the correctness of the Single Judge's interference with the Labour Court's factual findings regarding continuous service and the mandatory procedural requirements for retrenchment under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

Catchwords: Letters Patent Appeal · Industrial Disputes · Retrenchment · Section 25F · Section 25G · Section 25H · Continuous Service · Backwages · Reinstatement · Daily-rated Workman · Rojamdar · Labour Court · Oral Termination · Wireless Operator · Perversity of Findings