Once Termination Held Illegal, Labour Court Bound To Award Back Wages To Workman: Allahabad High Court Reiterates

The Allahabad High Court has reiterated the principle that once Labour Court holds that the termination of workman was illegal and the workman is reinstated in service, it is bound to award back wages.

“If a termination order is set aside being illegal, the consequence would be that the order of termination was never passed and therefore, reinstatement in service with full back wages is the natural consequence of setting aside the order of termination,” held Justice Piyush Agrawal.

Counsel for petitioner submitted that the petitioner was working as Assembly Girl. However, she was terminated from service without any opportunity of hearing or retrenchment compensation. A reference was made to the Labour Court wherein Labour Court held the termination to be illegal and directed reinstatement. However, no back wages were awarded without assigning any reason.

Counsel for Petitioner contended that since the award for reinstatement had not been challenged by the private employer, it had become final. However, it was pointed out that the Labour Court had erred in not awarding back wages from the date of termination to the date of reinstatement.

Relying on the decision of the Supreme Court in State of U.P. Vs. Charan Singh (2015), the Court observed that “it is clear that once the award is passed treating the termination as illegal, the Labour Court ought to have granted back wages.” Award of back wages was specifically pleaded in the written statement before the Labour Court.

Accordingly, the Court held that the petitioner was entitled to back wages. The Court directed the petitioner to move an application under Section 6-H(1) of the Industrial Dispute Act for calculating the amount of back wages.

Case Title: Smt. Vidya Rawat v. State of U.P. and Others [WRIT - C No. - 11692 of 2007]

Case citation: 2023 LiveLaw (AB) 319

Counsel for Petitioner: Y.K. Sinha, Akshat Sinha

Counsel for Respondent: C.S.C., Vivek Ratan Agrawal

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