Page 1 REPORTABLE

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CIVIL APPEAL NO. 8415 OF 2009

Asst. Engineer, Rajasthan Dev. Corp. & Anr. …… Appellants

Vs.

Gitam Singh …… Respondent

JUDGMENT

R.M. LODHA, J.

The short question that arises for consideration in this appeal,

by special leave, is where the workman had worked for only eight months

as daily wager and his termination has been held to be in contravention of

Section 25-F of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (for short, ‘ID Act’),

whether the direction to the employer for reinstatement with continuity of

service and 25 per cent back wages is legally sustainable.

2. We were not disposed to undertake the detailed exercise but

the same has become necessary in view of very vehement contention of

Mr. Sushil Kumar Jain, learned counsel for the respondent (workman), that

1

Page 2 reinstatement must follow where termination of a workman has been found

to be in breach of Section 25-F of ID Act. He heavily relied upon three

decisions of this Court in L. Robert D’Souza v. Executive Engineer,

Southern Railway and Another

1

, Harjinder Singh v. Punjab State

Warehousing Corporation

2

and Devinder Singh v. Municipal Council,

Sanaur

3

.

3. On behalf of the appellant, Ms. Shobha, learned counsel,

challenged the finding of the Labour Court that the respondent had worked

for 240 days continuously in the year preceding the date of termination.

Alternatively, she submitted that the award of reinstatement with continuity

of service and 25 per cent back wages in the facts of the case was

unjustified as the respondent was only a daily wager; he worked for a very

short period from 01.03.1991 to 31.10.1991 and for last more than 20 years

he is not in the service due to interim orders. Relying upon the decisions

of this Court in Haryana State Electronics Development Corporation Ltd. v.

Mamni

4

, Mahboob Deepak v. Nagar Panchayat, Gajraula and Another

5

,

Jagbir Singh v. Haryana State Agriculture Marketing Board and Another

6

,

Senior Superintendent Telegraph (Traffic), Bhopal v. Santosh Kumar Seal

and Others

7

and In-charge Officer and Another v. Shankar Shetty

8

, she

1

(1982) 1 SCC 645

2

(2010) 3 SCC 192

3

(2011) 6 SCC 584

4

(2006) 9 SCC 434

5

(2008) 1 SCC 575

6

(2009) 15 SCC 327

7

(2010) 6 SCC 773

8

(2010) 9 SCC 126

2

Page 3 submitted that respondent was at best entitled to some compensation for

unlawful termination.

4. It is not in dispute that respondent was engaged as a daily

wager. The Labour Court, Bharatpur, in its award dated 28.06.2001 has

recorded the findings that the respondent had worked as technician (Mistri)

under the appellant for 240 days for the period from 01.03.1991 to

31.10.1991 and the termination of his service by an oral order on

31.10.1991 was violative of Section 25-F of the ID Act. We are not

inclined to disturb the findings recorded by the Labour Court; we take them

to be correct. The question, as noted above, is whether direction for

reinstatement of respondent with continuity in service along with 25 per

cent of back wages in view of the above findings is just and proper.

5. More than five decades back, this Court in Assam Oil

Company Limited, New Delhi v. Its Workmen

9

observed that the normal

rule in cases of wrongful dismissal was reinstatement but there could be

cases where it would not be expedient to follow this normal rule and to

direct reinstatement. Having regard to the facts of that case, this Court set

aside the order of reinstatement although dismissal of the employee was

found to be wrongful and awarded compensation.

6. In M/s. Hindustan Steels Ltd., Rourkela v. A.K. Roy and

Others

10

, this Court noted that there have been cases where reinstatement

has not been considered as either desirable or expedient.

9

AIR 1960 SC 1264

10

(1969) 3 SCC 513

3

Page 4 7. In M/s. Ruby General Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Shri P.P. Chopra

11

,

this Court reiterated what was stated in Assam Oil Company Limited

9

. In

paragraph 6 (pgs. 655-656) of the Report, this Court said :

“6. The normal rule is that in cases of invalid orders of

dismissal industrial adjudication would direct reinstatement

of a dismissed employee. Nevertheless, there would be

cases where it would not be expedient to adopt such a

course. Where, for instance, the office of the employer was

comparatively a small one and the dismissed employee held

the position of the secretary, a position of confidence and

trust, and the employer had lost confidence in the concerned

employee, reinstatement was held to be not fair to either

party……………”

8. This Court in The Management of Panitole Tea Estate v. The

Workmen

12

, while dealing with the judicial discretion of the Labour Court or

the Tribunal under ID Act in directing appropriate relief on setting aside the

wrongful dismissal of a workman, stated in paragraph 5 (pgs. 746-747) as

follows:

“…. The question whether on setting aside the wrongful

dismissal of a workman he should be reinstated or directed

to be paid compensation is a matter within the judicial

discretion of the Labour Court or the Tribunal, dealing with

the industrial dispute, the general rule in the absence of any

special circumstances being of reinstatement. In exercising

this discretion, fairplay towards the employee on the one

hand and interest of the employer, including considerations

of discipline in the establishment, on the other, require to be

duly safeguarded. This is necessary in the interest both of

security of tenure of the employee and of smooth and

harmonious working of the establishment. Legitimate

interests of both of them have to be kept in view if the order

is expected to promote the desired objective of industrial

peace and maximum possible production. The past record of

the employer, the nature of the alleged conduct for which

action was taken against him, the grounds on which the

11

(1969) 3 SCC 653

12

(1971) 1 SCC 742

4

Page 5 order of the employer is set aside, the nature of the duties

performed by the employee concerned and the nature of the

industrial establishment are some of the broad relevant

factors which require to be taken into consideration. The

factors just stated are merely illustrative and it is not

possible to exhaustively enumerate them. Each case has to

be decided on its own facts and no hard and fast rule can be

laid down to cover generally all conceivable

contingencies……”

9. In M/s. Tulsidas Paul v.The Second Labour Court, W.B. and

Others

13

, this Court relied upon M/s. Hindustan Steels Ltd.

10

and held as

under:

“9. In Hindustan Steels Ltd. v. Roy [(1969) 3 SCC 513] we

recently held, after considering the previous case-law, that

though the normal rule, in cases where dismissal or removal

from service is found to be unjustified, is reinstatement,

Industrial Tribunals have the discretion to award

compensation in unusual or exceptional circumstances

where the tribunal considers, on consideration of the

conflicting claims of the employer on the one hand and of

the workmen on the other, reinstatement inexpedient or not

desirable. We also held that no hard and fast rule as to

which circumstances would constitute an exception to the

general rule can be laid down as the tribunal in each case

must, in a spirit of fairness and justice and in keeping with

the objectives of industrial adjudication, decide whether it

should, in the interest of justice, depart from the general

rule.”

10. In L. Robert D’Souza

1

, this Court in paragraph 27 (pg. 664)

held as under :

“27. ……….Therefore, assuming that he was a daily-rated

worker, once he has rendered continuous uninterrupted

service for a period of one year or more, within the meaning

of Section 25-F of the Act and his service is terminated for

any reason whatsoever and the case does not fall in any of

the excepted categories, notwithstanding the fact that Rule

2505 would be attracted, it would have to be read subject to

the provisions of the Act. Accordingly the termination of

service in this case would constitute retrenchment and for

13

(1972) 4 SCC 205

5

Page 6 not complying with pre-conditions to valid retrenchment, the

order of termination would be illegal and invalid.”

11. What has been held by this Court in L. Robert

D’Souza

1

is that Section 25-F of the ID Act is applicable to a daily-rated

worker. We do not think that there is any dispute on this proposition.

12. In Manager, Reserve Bank of India, Bangalore v. S. Mani and

Others

14

, this Court in paragraph 54 (pg. 120) of the Report held as under:

“54. Mr. Phadke, as noticed hereinbefore, has referred to a

large number of decisions for demonstrating that this Court

had directed reinstatement even if the workmen concerned

were daily-wagers or were employed intermittently. No

proposition of law was laid down in the aforementioned

judgments. The said judgments of this Court, moreover, do

not lay down any principle having universal application so

that the Tribunals, or for that matter the High Court, or this

Court, may feel compelled to direct reinstatement with

continuity of service and back wages. The Tribunal has

some discretion in this matter. Grant of relief must depend

on the fact situation obtaining in a particular case. The

industrial adjudicator cannot be held to be bound to grant

some relief only because it will be lawful to do so.”

13. In Nagar Mahapalika (Now Municipal Corpn.) v. State of U.P.

and Others

15

, this Court, while dealing with the non-compliance with the

provisions of Section 6-N (which is pari materia to Section 25-F) of U.P.

Industrial Disputes Act held that the grant of relief of reinstatement with full

back wages and continuity of service in favour of retrenched workmen

would not automatically follow or as a matter of course. Instead, this Court

14

(2005) 5 SCC 100

15

(2006) 5 SCC 127

6

Page 7 modified the award of reinstatement with compensation of Rs. 30,000/- per

workman.

14. In Municipal Council, Sujanpur v. Surinder Kumar

16

, this Court

after having accepted the finding that there was violation of Section 25-F of

the ID Act, set aside the award of reinstatement with back wages and

directed the workman to be paid monetary compensation in the sum of Rs.

50,000/-.

15. In Mamni

4

, this Court modified the award of reinstatement

passed by the Labour Court, though the termination of the workman was in

violation of Section 25-F of the ID Act, by directing that the workman should

be compensated by payment of a sum of Rs. 25,000/-.

16. In Regional Manager, SBI v. Mahatma Mishra

17

, this Court

observed that it was one thing to say that services of a workman were

terminated in violation of mandatory provisions of law but it was another

thing to say that relief of reinstatement in service with full back wages

would be granted automatically.

17. In Haryana Urban Development Authority v. Om Pal

18

, this

Court in paragraphs 7 and 8 (pg. 745) of the Report held as under :

“7. Moreover, it is also now well settled that despite a wide

discretionary power conferred upon the Industrial Courts

under Section 11-A of the 1947 Act, the relief of

reinstatement with full back wages should not be granted

automatically only because it would be lawful to do so. Grant

of relief would depend on the fact situation obtaining in each

case. It will depend upon several factors, one of which

16

(2006) 5 SCC 173

17

(2006) 13 SCC 727

18

(2007) 5 SCC 742

7

Page 8 would be as to whether the recruitment was effected in

terms of the statutory provisions operating in the field, if any.

8. The respondent worked for a very short period. He only

worked, as noticed hereinbefore, in 1994-95. The Industrial

Tribunal-cum-Labour Court, therefore, in our opinion

committed an illegality, while passing an award in the year

2003, directing the reinstatement of the respondent with full

back wages. Although we are of the opinion that the

respondent was not entitled to any relief, whatsoever, we

direct the appellant to pay him a sum of Rs. 25,000.”

18. In Uttaranchal Forest Development Corporation v. M.C.Joshi

19

,

the Court was concerned with a daily wager who had worked with

Uttaranchal Forest Development Corporation from 01.08.1989 to

24.11.1991 and whose services were held to be terminated in violation of

Section 6-N of the U.P. Industrial Disputes Act. The Labour Court had

directed the reinstatement of the workman with 50 per cent back wages

from the date the industrial dispute was raised. Setting aside the order of

reinstatement and back wages, this Court awarded compensation in a sum

of Rs. 75,000/- in favour of the workman keeping in view the nature and

period of service rendered by the workman and the fact that industrial

dispute was raised after six years.

19. In Madhya Pradesh Administration v. Tribhuban

20

, this Court

upheld the order of the Industrial Court passed in its jurisdiction under

Section 11A of the ID Act awarding compensation and set aside the

judgment of the Single Judge and the Division Bench that ordered the

19

(2007) 9 SCC 353

20

(2007) 9 SCC 748

8

Page 9 reinstatement of the workman with full back wages. The Court in paragraph

12 (pg. 755) of the Report held as under:

“12. In this case, the Industrial Court exercised its

discretionary jurisdiction under Section 11-A of the Industrial

Disputes Act. It merely directed the amount of compensation

to which the respondent was entitled had the provisions of

Section 25-F been complied with should be sufficient to

meet the ends of justice. We are not suggesting that the

High Court could not interfere with the said order, but the

discretionary jurisdiction exercised by the Industrial Court, in

our opinion, should have been taken into consideration for

determination of the question as to what relief should be

granted in the peculiar facts and circumstances of this case.

Each case is required to be dealt with in the fact situation

obtaining therein.”

20. In Mahboob Deepak

5

, this Court stated that an order of

retrenchment passed in violation of Section 6-N of the U.P. Industrial

Disputes Act may be set aside but an order of reinstatement should not

however be automatically passed. The Court observed in paragraphs 11

and 12 (pg. 578) of the Report as follows:-

“11. The High Court, on the other hand, did not consider the

effect of non-compliance with the provisions of Section 6-N

of the U.P. Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. The appellant was

entitled to compensation, notice and notice pay.

12. It is now well settled by a catena of decisions of this

Court that in a situation of this nature instead and in place of

directing reinstatement with full back wages, the workmen

should be granted adequate monetary compensation. (See

M.P. Admn. v. Tribhuban

20

).”

9

Page 10 21. In Telecom District Manager and others v. Keshab Deb

21

, this

Court said that even if the provisions of Section 25-F of the I.D. Act had not

been complied with, the workman was only entitled to just compensation.

22. In Talwara Co-operative Credit and Service Society Limited v.

Sushil Kumar

22

, this Court in paragraph 8 (pg. 489) of the Report held as

under :

“8. Grant of a relief of reinstatement, it is trite, is not

automatic. Grant of back wages is also not automatic. The

Industrial Courts while exercising their power under Section

11-A of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 are required to

strike a balance in a situation of this nature. For the said

purpose, certain relevant factors, as for example, nature of

service, the mode and manner of recruitment viz. whether

the appointment had been made in accordance with the

statutory rules so far as a public sector undertaking is

concerned, etc., should be taken into consideration.”

23. In Jagbir Singh

6

, this Court, speaking through one of us (R.M.

Lodha, J.) while dealing with the question of consequential relief arising

from the facts quite similar to the present case, ordered compensation of

Rs. 50,000/- to be paid by the employer to the workman instead of

reinstatement. In paragraph 14 (pg.335) of the Report, this Court held as

under :

“14. It would be, thus, seen that by a catena of decisions in

recent time, this Court has clearly laid down that an order of

retrenchment passed in violation of Section 25-F although

may be set aside but an award of reinstatement should not,

however, be automatically passed. The award of

reinstatement with full back wages in a case where the

workman has completed 240 days of work in a year

preceding the date of termination, particularly, daily wagers

21

(2008) 8 SCC 402

22

(2008) 9 SCC 486

10

Page 11 has not been found to be proper by this Court and instead

compensation has been awarded. This Court has

distinguished between a daily wager who does not hold a

post and a permanent employee.”

24. In Uttar Pradesh State Electricity Board v. Laxmi Kant Gupta

23

,

this Court stated, “…. now there is no such principle that for an illegal

termination of service the normal rule is reinstatement with back wages,

and instead the Labour Court can award compensation”.

25. In Santosh Kumar Seal

7

, while dealing with a case of workmen

who were engaged as daily wagers about 25 years back and had hardly

worked for two or three years, this Court speaking through one of us (R.M.

Lodha, J.) held that reinstatement with back wages could not be said to be

justified and instead monetary compensation would subserve the ends of

justice. It was held that compensation of Rs. 40,000/- to each of the

workmen would meet the ends of justice.

26. From the long line of cases indicated above, it can be said

without any fear of contradiction that this Court has not held as an absolute

proposition that in cases of wrongful dismissal, the dismissed employee is

entitled to reinstatement in all situations. It has always been the view of this

Court that there could be circumstance(s) in a case which may make it

inexpedient to order reinstatement. Therefore, the normal rule that

dismissed employee is entitled to reinstatement in cases of wrongful

dismissal has been held to be not without exception. Insofar as wrongful

23

(2009) 16 SCC 562

11

Page 12 termination of daily-rated workers is concerned, this Court has laid down

that consequential relief would depend on host of factors, namely, manner

and method of appointment, nature of employment and length of service.

Where the length of engagement as daily wager has not been long, award

of reinstatement should not follow and rather compensation should be

directed to be paid. A distinction has been drawn between a daily wager

and an employee holding the regular post for the purposes of

consequential relief.

27. We shall now consider two decisions of this Court in Harjinder

Singh

2

and Devinder Singh

3

upon which heavy reliance has been placed by

the learned counsel for the respondent. In Harjinder Singh

2

, this Court did

interfere with the order of the High Court which awarded compensation to

the workman by modifying the award of reinstatement passed by the

Labour Court. However, on close scrutiny of facts it transpires that that was

a case where a workman was initially employed by Punjab State

Warehousing Corporation as work-charge motor mate but after few months

he was appointed as work munshi in the regular pay-scale for three

months. His service was extended from time to time and later on by one

month’s notice given by the Managing Director of the Corporation his

service was brought to end on 05.07.1988. The workman challenged

the implementation of the notice in a writ petition and by an interim order

the High Court stayed the implementation of that notice but later on the writ

petition was withdrawn with liberty to the workman to avail his remedy

12

Page 13 under the ID Act. After two months, the Managing Director of the

Corporation issued notice dated 26.11.1992 for retrenchment of the

workman along with few others by giving them one month’s pay and

allowances in lieu of notice as per the requirement of Section 25-F(a) of the

ID Act. On industrial dispute being raised, the Labour Court found that there

was compliance of Section 25-F but it was found that the termination was

violative of Section 25-G of the ID Act and, accordingly, Labour Court

passed an award for reinstatement of the workman with 50 per cent back

wages. The Single Judge of that High Court did not approve the award of

reinstatement on the premise that the initial appointment of the workman

was not in consonance with the statutory regulations and Articles 14 and 16

of the Constitution and accordingly, substituted the award of reinstatement

with 50 per cent back wages by directing that the workman shall be paid a

sum of Rs. 87,582/- by way of compensation. It is this order of the Single

Judge that was set aside by this Court and order of the Labour Court

restored. We are afraid the facts in Harjinder Singh

2

are quite distinct.

That was not a case of a daily-rated worker. It was held that Single Judge

was wrong in entertaining an unfounded plea that workman was employed

in violation of Articles 14 and 16. Harjinder Singh

2

turned on its own facts

and is not applicable to the facts of the present case at all.

28. In Devinder Singh

3

, the workman was engaged by Municipal

Council, Sanaur on 01.08.1994 for doing the work of clerical nature. He

continued in service till 29.09.1996. His service was discontinued with

13

Page 14 effect from 30.09.1996 in violation of Section 25-F of ID Act. On industrial

dispute being referred for adjudication, the Labour Court held that the

workman had worked for more than 240 days in a calendar year preceding

the termination of his service and his service was terminated without

complying with the provisions of Section 25-F. Accordingly, Labour Court

passed an award for reinstatement of the workman but without back wages.

Upon challenge being laid to the award of the Labour Court, the Division

Bench set aside the order of the Labour Court by holding that Labour Court

should not have ordered reinstatement of the workman because his

appointment was contrary to the Recruitment Rules and Articles 14 and 16

of the Constitution. In the appeal before this Court from the order of the

Division Bench, this Court held that the High Court had neither found any

jurisdictional infirmity in the award of the Labour Court nor it came to the

conclusion that the award was vitiated by an error of law apparent on the

face of the record and notwithstanding these the High Court set aside the

direction given by the Labour Court for reinstatement of the workman by

assuming that his initial appointment was contrary to law. The approach of

the High Court was found to be erroneous by this Court. This Court,

accordingly, set aside the order of the High Court and restored the award of

the Labour Court. In Devinder Singh

3

, the Court had not dealt with the

question about the consequential relief to be granted to the workman

whose termination was held to be illegal being in violation of Section 25-F.

14

Page 15 29. In our view, Harjinder Singh

2

and Devinder Singh

3

do not lay

down the proposition that in all cases of wrongful termination,

reinstatement must follow. This Court found in those cases that judicial

discretion exercised by the Labour Court was disturbed by the High Court

on wrong assumption that the initial employment of the employee was

illegal. As noted above, with regard to the wrongful termination of a daily

wager, who had worked for a short period, this Court in long line of cases

has held that the award of reinstatement cannot be said to be proper relief

and rather award of compensation in such cases would be in consonance

with the demand of justice. Before exercising its judicial discretion, the

Labour Court has to keep in view all relevant factors, including the mode

and manner of appointment, nature of employment, length of service, the

ground on which the termination has been set aside and the delay in raising

the industrial dispute before grant of relief in an industrial dispute. 30.

We may also refer to a recent decision of this Court in Bharat

Sanchar Nigam Limited v. Man Singh

24

. That was a case where the

workmen, who were daily wagers during the year 1984-85, were terminated

without following Section 25-F. The industrial dispute was raised after five

years and although the Labour Court had awarded reinstatement of the

workmen which was not interfered by the High Court, this Court set aside

the award of reinstatement and ordered payment of compensation. In

paragraphs 4 and 5 (pg.559) of the Report this Court held as under:

24

(2012) 1 SCC 558

15

Page 16 “4. This Court in a catena of decisions has clearly laid down

that although an order of retrenchment passed in violation of

Section 25-F of the Industrial Disputes Act may be set aside

but an award of reinstatement should not be passed. This

Court has distinguished between a daily wager who does

not hold a post and a permanent employee.

5. In view of the aforementioned legal position and the fact

that the respondent workmen were engaged as “daily

wagers” and they had merely worked for more than 240

days, in our considered view, relief of reinstatement cannot

be said to be justified and instead, monetary compensation

would meet the ends of justice.”

31. In light of the above legal position and having regard to the

facts of the present case, namely, the workman was engaged as daily

wager on 01.03.1991 and he worked hardly for eight months from

01.03.1991 to 31.10.1991, in our view, the Labour Court failed to exercise

its judicial discretion appropriately. The judicial discretion exercised by the

Labour Court suffers from serious infirmity. The Single Judge as well as

the Division Bench of the High Court also erred in not considering the

above aspect at all. The award dated 28.06.2001 directing reinstatement

of the respondent with continuity of service and 25% back wages in the

facts and circumstances of the case cannot be sustained and has to be set

aside and is set aside. In our view, compensation of Rs. 50,000/- by the

appellant to the respondent shall meet the ends of justice. We order

accordingly. Such payment shall be made to the respondent within six

weeks from today failing which the same will carry interest @ 9 per cent

per annum.

16

Page 17 32. The appeal is partly allowed to the above extent with no order

as to costs.

…………………….J.

(R.M. Lodha)

…………….…………………….J.

(Sudhansu Jyoti Mukhopadhaya)

NEW DELHI

JANUARY 31, 2013.

17