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Dilip Mani Dubey v. M/S SIEL Ltd. & Anr.

Civil Appeal · 2019 INSC 345Decided 12 Mar 2019
Civil Appeal Nos. 7545-7546 of 2009
Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre · Justice Dinesh Maheshwari

Background

A workman's termination by his employer, M/s SIEL Ltd., was referred to the Industrial Tribunal, Meerut, which ruled in the workman's favour and ordered reinstatement with back wages, finding he had completed one year of continuous service as required under Section 6-N of the U.P. Industrial Disputes Act. The employer challenged this award in a writ petition before the Allahabad High Court, which reversed the Tribunal and held that the workman had not actually completed one year of continuous service; the workman's review petition against that order was also dismissed. The workman then appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that whether the workman had completed one year of continuous service was a pure question of fact, and since the High Court had examined the record in detail and reached its conclusion, the Supreme Court could not re-appreciate that evidence afresh under its appellate jurisdiction under Article 136 of the Constitution, especially where the finding was not perverse or contrary to the evidence or law. The Court distinguished the precedent relied on by the workman's counsel as being different on facts. However, the Court upheld the High Court's related direction that any amount already paid to the workman under Section 17-B of the Industrial Disputes Act during the litigation (interim relief paid pending appeal) could not be recovered back by the employer, since Section 17-B proceedings are independent of the final outcome of the main case. The appeals were accordingly dismissed, but the workman kept the substantial interim amount already paid to him.

Lesson Learnt

The Supreme Court will generally not re-examine a factual finding about an employee's length of service if the High Court has already gone into the record in detail and the finding is not perverse; separately, amounts paid to a workman as interim relief during litigation under Section 17-B of the Industrial Disputes Act are protected and cannot be clawed back by the employer even if the workman ultimately loses the case.

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

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