HC raps govt for denying ‘rightful dues’ to employee

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 6

The Punjab and Haryana High Court
 has censured the Punjab Government for denying “rightful claim” of an employee, who served the state for more than 25 years. A Division Bench deprecated the state for filing an appeal before the court on a plea that was never raised earlier; and imposed costs of Rs 50,000 while dismissing the matter. 
 The admonishment by Justice Satish Kumar Mittal and Justice Deepak Sibal came on a state appeal against the Presiding Officer of the Bathinda Industrial Tribunal and another respondent. The court was told that the respondent-workman, working with the appellant-state on daily wages for more than 25 years, claimed minimum wages prescribed for Class IV employees. The dispute raised in this regard by other similarly situated workmen was referred to the Labour Court, which decided the matter in their favour. The award was upheld even by the apex court. It was rather held that workmen working on daily wage basis should be paid minimum wages given to Class IV employees. When similarly situated respondent-workman was not granted the benefit, he approached the Labour Court, which directed the appellants to pay wages to him in accordance with the apex court decision. The appellants challenged the award by filing a writ petition. The only argument raised was that the workman did not have pre-existing right. As such, his application was not maintainable. But the contention was rejected by the Single Judge. In its appeal before the Division Bench, the counsel for the appellants could not point out illegality in the Single Judge’s order. However, he submitted that the workman-respondent was not working as “beldar”. As such, he could not have been given the benefits ordered to be given to workmen by the Supreme Court. Rapping the state on its knuckles, the Bench asserted: “We are surprised that the appellants have raised this argument before us as the same had not been raised earlier…. It appears to us that on one pretext or the other, the state government is making attempts to deny the rightful claim even to its Class IV employee, who has served them for a long period of more than 25 years. “This attitude of the state government has been deprecated by the Single Judge. We also deprecate the conduct of the state to file this appeal by taking a plea, which was never raised either before the Labour Court or before the Single Judge. On a settled issue, right up to the apex court in a similar matter, the appellants have unnecessarily filed this appeal on false and flimsy grounds”.