Labour Laws – Re-instatement – Termination of daily wager – After 15 years of termination, he raised a dispute – Labour court awarded reinstatement of respondent-worker in State services but without awarding back wages to him – High Court dismissed State’s writ petition and upheld the award of the labour court – On appeal, held: The case of the respondent squarely fell in the category discussed in Bharat Sanchar Nigam wherein the Supreme Court held that no useful purpose would be served in re-instating a daily wager and he can be given monetary compensation by the Court itself inasmuch as, if he is terminated again after reinstatement, he would receive monetary compensation only in the form of retrenchment compensation and notice pay – Following the view held in Bharat Sanchar Nigam case, a lump sum monetary compensation of Rs.1 lakh is awarded to the respondent in full and final satisfaction of his claim of re-instatement and other consequential benefits by taking recourse to the powers under s.11A of the 1947 Act – Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 – s.11A.
Partly allowing the appeal, the Court
HELD: The respondent had worked as daily wager or muster roll employee hardly for a few years in R & B of the State. He had no right to claim regularization. He had no right to continue as daily wager. The dispute was raised by the respondent (workman) before the Labour Court almost after 15 years of his alleged termination. The case of the respondent would squarely fall in the category of cases discussed in Para 34 of the judgment rendered in Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited. A lump sum monetary compensation is awarded to the respondent in full and final satisfaction of his claim of re-instatement and other consequential benefits by taking recourse to the powers under Section 11A of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 and the law laid down in Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited’s case. The respondent is awarded Rs.1 lakh in lieu of his right to claim re-instatement and back wages in full and final satisfaction of this dispute. [Paras 11-14][67-B-E] Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited v. Bhurumal (2014) 7 SCC 177 – relied on.
District Development Officer and Anr. v. Satish Kantilal Amerelia (2018) 12 SCC 298 : [2017] 12 SCR 414 – referred to.
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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