Recent Judgment on Labour Dispute

Div. Manager, New India Assurance Co. Ltd. v. A. Sankaralingam
(Available at http://www.judis.nic.in/)

Abstract

A labour dispute which arose on the termination of service of the respondent, who was appointed as a sweeper – cum – water carrier, in the office of the appellant. Interestingly, his service was terminated on his request for regularisation. The matter was referred to Industrial Tribunal and the tribunal in its award denied the respondent’s claim of reinstatement as he was only a part-time employee on ad-hoc basis. On appeal the single bench of the High Court of Madras held that the issue is more of wrongful termination of service than regularisation and held that termination was bad in law and ordered reinstatement. The matter of regularisation of service was left to be considered by the employer in accordance with law. The appeal to the Supreme Court was against the confirmation of the above judgment by the division bench of the High Court.
One of the issues in this case was whether the respondent will get the benefit under section 25 F of the Industrial Dispute Act provided he came under the purview of Section 2 (s) which defines “workman”. The Supreme Court considered whether a part time employee fell within the definition of workman. The Court held:
‘The question as to whether a part-time workman would be covered within the definition in Section 2(s) of the Act and whether he would be entitled to the benefit of continuous service under section 25B and the benefit of Section 25F, is answered in favour of the respondent." The appeal was therefore dismissed.

Issues for consideration

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  The termination of service of the respondent and the ensuing legal battle commenced on 15th March, 1989 for a paltry sum of Rs. 130/- per month
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  It took 19 years to reach the present stage of appeal
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  Industrial tribunal is a specialised body designated to deal with specific issues, as alternative to litigation in ordinary courts. The decision of the tribunal in this case was on 10th September, 1998, nine years after the dispute has begun
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  In this blog sometime back an idea was mooted about the need for labour arbitration. Arbitration and similar modes of dispute resolution are considered as alternative to litigation
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  Creation of an alternative for an alternative might not solve the problem but how the labour arbitration process is designed and reaches the finality would be the crucial issue