34 years after termination, SC reinstates hotel worker; directs employer to give 50 per cent back wages
NEW DELHI: More than three decades after he was terminated from his job at the Jaipur Ashoka hotel over allegations of misconduct, the Supreme Court on Friday reinstated and restored the partial back wages of Dinesh Chandra Sharma, who unfortunately did not live to see the verdict that followed years of legal fight. The case was fought in the top court by Sharma's legal heirs after his death. Pronouncing the verdict, a two-judge benchof the apex court, headed by Justice Manoj Misra and comprising Justice Ujjal Bhuyan said, A person may do odd jobs to survive but that cannot be a ground to deny back wages, particularly when termination of his service is by way of punishment. Because punishment, as a matter of course, visits a person with stigma which hampers re-employment. Anemployer cannot avoid liability for back wages merely because the workman did not initially plead that he was unemployed during the intervening period, the court said. The apex court passed the order, after hearing an appeal filed by the legal representatives of late Sharma, who had joined the Rajasthan unit of Bhartiya Paryatan Vikas Nigam Limited in 1978 as a room attendant. His services were terminated in July 1991 on charges of misconduct -- which were found to be unproven years later. Sharma approached the labour court against his termination in March 2015. The court in December the same year found the company's action to be unfair anddirected his reinstatement with continuity of service and full back wages. Following the labour court verdict, the company management moved the Rajasthan High Cour, which modified the order by reducing the back wages to 50%. The top court justified that the HC's approach of awarding half the back wages balanced both fairness and practicality, especially since the hotel where Sharma worked, the Jaipur Ashoka, had since been transferred to the Rajasthan government. The top court thereby restored the single-judge's 2018 order granting Sharma 50% of his back wages, with continuity of service and full retiral benefits amounting to Rs 33,68,326.
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