Division Bench (D K Singh and Umesh M Adiga JJ.; oral judgment per Umesh M Adiga J.), High Court of Karnataka, dismisses the management's (IIM Bengaluru) writ appeal under Section 4 of the Karnataka High Courts Act, 1961 against the learned Single Judge's order dated 24.06.2025 in W.P.No.19969/2016 (L-ID), whereby the Labour Court's rejection of the workman's Section 33-C(2) application (Application No.29/2015; claim of Rs.49,00,000/-, quantified at Rs.49,25,122/-, with 12% interest) was set aside and the question of back wages from 29.09.2005 (date of the award in I.D.No.98/1993 setting aside the dismissal dated 20.08.1993) to 13.01.2011 (date of reinstatement) was remitted for fresh adjudication, excluding amounts paid under the interim-relief order dated 05.05.1995 and wages paid under Section 17-B per order dated 08.11.2006. Held: (i) the 'no work no pay' principle embodied in the Division Bench's clarification dated 13.03.2013 in W.A.No.379/2010 applied only for the period from suspension during the departmental enquiry until the Tribunal ordered reinstatement; (ii) for the subsequent period the workman could not work because the management obtained stay orders in the previous round of litigation - there was no fault of, and no refusal to work by, the workman - so 'no work no pay' cannot defeat back wages for that period; (iii) once the Labour Court held the dismissal contrary to law, back wages ran from the date of that order until reinstatement; (iv) the Single Judge's remand for computation of the amount payable involves no illegality. Reliance placed on Deepali Gundu Sarwase v. Kranti Junior Adhyapak Mahavidyalaya (D.Ed.) and Hindustan Tin Works Pvt. Ltd. v. Employees; State of Gujarat v. Dilipbhai Saligram Patil noted as having been considered by the learned Single Judge. Appeal dismissed; parties to bear their own costs.
