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K.V. Anil Mithra & Anr. v. Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit & Anr.

Civil Appeal · 2021 INSC 679Decided 27 Oct 2021
Civil Appeal No. 9067 of 2014
Justice Ajay Rastogi · Justice Abhay S. Oka

Background

Several daily-wage non-teaching staff of Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit (watchmen, peons, drivers, etc.) were appointed between 1993-1995 and later regularised in 1996, but the University reversed this and de-regularised and terminated them in 1997. The Kerala High Court had earlier upheld the de-regularisation itself as valid, but left open whether the termination separately violated Section 25F of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (which requires notice and compensation before retrenchment). An Industrial Tribunal later held the terminations illegal for violating Section 25F and ordered reinstatement with 50% back wages, but the Kerala High Court (Single Judge and Division Bench) set that aside, reasoning that workers whose appointments were irregular could not claim Section 25F's protection.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the High Court's reasoning was legally unsustainable: Section 25F's definition of "retrenchment" under Section 2(oo) of the Act applies to termination "for any reason whatsoever," regardless of whether the underlying appointment was irregular, so long as the workman had completed 240 days of continuous service. The Court restored the finding that the terminations violated Section 25F, but modified the relief: instead of reinstatement with 50% back wages, following precedent that reinstatement is not automatic for daily-wage workers terminated only for a procedural defect, it awarded each appellant a lump-sum compensation of Rs. 2,50,000 in full and final settlement, to be paid within three months. The appeals were thus partly allowed.

Lesson Learnt

Even workers whose initial appointment process was irregular are still entitled to the mandatory notice-and-compensation safeguards under Section 25F before being terminated; however, courts may substitute a one-time monetary payment for reinstatement when reinstating a short-term daily-wage worker would serve no real practical purpose.

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

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