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Mange Ram Sharma & Anr. vs. Municipal Corporation of Delhi

Writ Petition (Civil) · 2026:DHC:7453Decided 2 Sept 2026New Delhi Bench
W.P.(C) 15847/2022CNR: DLHC010429412022
Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri

Background

Two petitioners had worked as Beldars (daily-rated/muster-roll workers) with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) since 2003 and 2006 respectively, for about three months a year with breaks in between, until their services were terminated on 16.10.2010. They approached the conciliation machinery and then the Industrial Tribunal, claiming their termination was illegal retrenchment and seeking regularization, but the Tribunal ruled against them in 2020, holding their case fell within an exception under Section 2(oo)(bb) of the Industrial Disputes Act (contract work ending on non-renewal) and that they hadn't completed 240 days of service in the preceding 12 months.

Decision Breakdown

The High Court held that for the Section 2(oo)(bb) exception to apply, MCD had to prove the workmen were engaged under a fixed-term contract tied to a specific project that had ended, but MCD never filed a written statement or led any evidence before the Tribunal, so it failed to discharge this burden. Relying on Supreme Court precedent (S.M. Nilajkar) and a coordinate bench decision on nearly identical MCD facts (Amarpal), the Court held the termination amounted to retrenchment, and that MCD also violated Section 25G's "last come, first go" retrenchment procedure. The Tribunal's award was set aside; MCD was directed to reinstate the workmen with consequential benefits, and the separate regularization claim (never examined by the Tribunal) was remanded back to it.

Lesson Learnt

Employers, including government bodies, bear the burden of proving that daily-wage workers were engaged for a specific, time-bound project in order to escape retrenchment protections; failing to file any written defense or evidence can expose them to reinstatement liability, and dismissals must follow seniority rules like "last come, first go."

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