The High Court dismissed the petitioner's writ petition seeking execution of an award for arrears. The Court upheld the Labour Court's finding that a re-terminated casual worker is entitled only to consolidated wages from the date of termination, not regular scale pay.
The writ petition for execution of the award was dismissed.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE N. RAVI SHANKAR WRIT PETITION No.2377 of 2007
ORDER:
The petitioner was earlier appointed as a Casual Worker in the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (A.P.S.R.T.C.) and of course he is presently working as a Shramik at Gadwal Bus Depot of A.P.S.R.T.C. He filed E.P.No.3 of 2000 in the Labour Court-I, Hyderabad under Section 11-B of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (for short ‘the Act’) to recover a sum of Rs.2,50,770.10ps pleading that the said amount is due to him towards arrears of wages as per the award dated 02.08.1995 passed in I.D.No.289 of 1991.
It may be noted that petitioner when he was earlier employed as a Casual Worker was terminated from service. The Labour Court in the aforesaid I.D.No.289 of 1991 directed his reinstatement into service with backwages with continuity of service. Aggrieved by the same, the A.P.S.R.T.C. preferred W.P.No.1690 of 1997 and that was dismissed by this Court on 30.11.1999. Questioning the order in the aforesaid writ petition, the A.P.S.R.T.C. filed W.A.No.282 of 2000. It is seen that in the said Writ Appeal, a consent order was passed and the operative portion of the same reads as follows:
“The respondent No.1 shall be entitled to arrears of pay and other emoluments from the date of the award passed by the Tribunal. He shall be however given continuity of service from the day of his initial appointment. This order we are passing with the consent of the learned counsel for the parties keeping in view that after the award was passed and certain orders were passed by this Court the respondent No.1 had been taken back into service and is already serving the Corporation. The claim of the respondent No.2 in respect of the arrears shall be finally settled within a period of six months.”
Thereafter, the petitioner filed the present E.P. for execution of award as modified in the order passed in the above writ appeal. He claimed a sum of Rs.2,50,770.10ps towards arrears of wages from 01.08.1997 to 31.12.1999. His main contention is that as he was
reinstated into service by the award of the Labour Court granting him the relief of continuity of service, he is entitled to regular scale of pay from the date of the award i.e., 02.08.1995, which is the date mentioned in the order in the writ appeal. The A.P.S.R.T.C. disputed this and its plea is that since the petitioner was terminated from the service as a Casual Worker and he was directed to be reinstated only as a Casual Worker, he is entitled to a consolidated wage of Rs.345/per month which was subsequently enhanced to Rs.430/- per month. The pleadings in the E.P. are not filed, but a perusal of the order passed by the Labour Court in the E.P. would show that the A.P.S.R.T.C. calculated the amounts at the rate of Rs.430/- per month, which was the consolidated pay payable to the petitioner till he was appointed as a Sramik on regular basis with effect from 26.08.2000. The various amounts paid by the A.P.S.R.T.C. at the above rates were calculated by the Labour Court and it accordingly found that the calculation of the A.P.S.R.T.C. was consistent with the decretal amount and, therefore, there were no merits in the E.P.
Sri V.R.Balachary, learned counsel for the petitioner, repeated the above contention and argued that since the petitioner was ordered to be reinstated with continuity of service under the award of the Labour Court, he must be deemed to have been in service right from the date of his termination i.e., 24.10.1990 and he is entitled to a regular scale of pay from that day. It is difficult to accept this contention. It may be noted that when a Casual Worker who was terminated and discharged from service is ordered to be reinstated, he will be entitled only to that pay, which he was being paid on the date of termination subject to any increase in the consolidated wage. The A.P.S.R.T.C. as per the award calculated and paid those amounts and the Labour Court accepted the same. Since they are findings of fact, they do not call for any interference.
The Labour Court on the plea of the A.P.S.R.T.C. found that the
petitioner was subsequently appointed as a Shramik on regular basis with effect from 26.08.2000 only which is not in dispute and therefore, he is entitled to the regular pay scale attached to the Sramik from that date and that A.P.S.R.T.C. also calculated that amount and paid it. There is no reason to interfere with that conclusion of the Labour Court also.
In the above circumstances and for the aforesaid reasons, it follows that the award of the Labour Court does not suffer from any illegality or infirmity. This Writ Petition is accordingly dismissed. No costs.
Consequently, miscellaneous petitions pending if any shall stand disposed of as infructuous.
____________________ N. RAVI SHANKAR, J 05th December,2012 GHN/DV
2 issues framed by the court
Whether a reinstated casual worker is entitled to regular scale of pay from the date of termination or only to consolidated wages.
Whether the Labour Court erred in concluding that the Corporation's calculation of arrears based on consolidated wages was consistent with the award.
1 provisions across 1 enactments
Casual Worker/Shramik
Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation
N. RAVI SHANKAR
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
