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Delhi Transport Corporation (D.T.C.) v. Gian Chand

Civil Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Civil Appeal No. 7364 of 2016)Decided 8 Aug 2016
Civil Appeal No. 7364 of 2016
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman

Background

The Delhi High Court had directed that the respondent, an employee, be reinstated in service with 60% back wages, in an LPA decided in 2015. DTC, the employer, appealed to the Supreme Court challenging only the back-wages portion of the order.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found no justification for awarding back wages on the facts of the case and vacated that part of the High Court's direction. It clarified that the employee would still be reinstated with continuity of service and all other consequential benefits, just without monetary back wages. The Court further directed that if the employee had earlier been denied the option to choose a pension scheme because he was out of service at the relevant time, he must now be given a fresh opportunity to exercise that pension option before his retirement date, since he is deemed to have remained in service for non-monetary purposes.

Lesson Learnt

Reinstatement with continuity of service and back wages are legally distinct remedies: a court can order reinstatement while declining back pay, and employees wrongly kept out of service may still be entitled to benefit-related options (like a pension choice) they missed due to that absence.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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