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Legal Case Shots

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Uncategorized (needs manual review)Supreme Court of India

Bhartiya Kamgar Karmachari Mahasangh vs. M/s. Jet Airways Ltd. (2023 INSC 646)

Civil Appeal · 2023 INSC 646Decided 25 Jul 2023
Civil Appeal No. 4404 of 2023
Abhay S. Oka · Sanjay Karol

Background

A trade union representing about 169 workmen (loader-cum-cleaners, drivers and operators) employed by Jet Airways on repeated fixed-term contracts sought their reinstatement as permanent employees, arguing they had each completed over 240 days of continuous service doing permanent, regular work. The airline relied on a 2002 settlement in which an earlier union had given up the demand for permanency in exchange for other benefits, and argued the workmen were never entitled to permanency because their contracts were fixed-term. Both the Central Government Industrial Tribunal and the Bombay High Court ruled against the union, holding that non-renewal of a fixed-term contract was not "retrenchment" and that the settlement could validly override the demand for permanency.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court disagreed with both lower forums. It held that the Bombay Model Standing Order, a statutorily backed set of employment conditions, expressly provides that any workman completing 240 days of continuous service "shall be made permanent," and that Clause 32 of the Standing Order preserves this right against any contrary agreement or settlement. Since certified Standing Orders have the force of law and effectively form part of the statutory contract of employment, no private settlement between employer and union can validly extinguish a right the Standing Order confers, unless the settlement is more beneficial to the employees. As the 2002 settlement did the opposite, stripping away the permanency right, it could not override the Standing Order. The Court allowed the appeal, held the workmen entitled to permanency benefits, and set aside both the Tribunal's award and the High Court's judgment.

Lesson Learnt

A certified Standing Order under industrial law overrides any private settlement or contract that takes away a benefit it guarantees (such as permanency after 240 days of continuous service): a union cannot validly bargain away that statutory protection unless workers receive something equally or more beneficial in exchange.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)
Bhartiya Kamgar Karmachari Mahasangh vs. M/s. Jet Airways Ltd. (2023 INSC 646) – Legal Case Shots | LegalAware