Rashtriya Colliery Mazdoor Sangh, Dhanbad v. Employers in Relation to Management of Kenduadih Colliery of M/s BCCL & Ors.
Background
Eighty-eight workmen who worked as "Tyndals" (handling engineering stores and machinery) at Kenduadih Colliery sought regularization through an Industrial Tribunal reference in 1993. The Tribunal ordered their regularization, but on a writ petition the Jharkhand High Court modified this in 2004 to instead direct that the workmen be given preference in future recruitment (with relaxed age/qualification norms) rather than automatic regularization: a ruling that attained finality as it was never challenged. When the workmen later sought enforcement, the management's Right to Information Act disclosures and a 2016 internal committee report indicated no vacancies existed in their category, leading to this further round of litigation before the Supreme Court.
Decision Breakdown
The Supreme Court held that because the 2004 High Court judgment (denying automatic regularization and granting only a future preference) was never challenged and had attained finality, the workmen's entitlement could only flow from that modified relief, not from reinstatement. The Court distinguished and relied on its own earlier ruling of 3 October 2016 in a related reference involving the same company, where it had similarly declined reinstatement (given the passage of nearly 27 years and workmen nearing retirement) but awarded monetary compensation of Rs. 2 lakhs each to remedy unequal treatment between similarly placed groups of workmen. Applying the same reasoning here, while noting these workmen belonged to a more skilled category (Tyndals, Category IV) than the general mazdoors in the earlier case, the Court directed the management to pay Rs. 4 lakhs to each of the 88 workmen in full and final settlement of all claims, to be deposited with the Industrial Tribunal and disbursed after verifying each workman's identity. The appeal was allowed in these terms, with no order as to costs.
Lesson Learnt
Where an earlier, more favourable tribunal award is modified by a court order that is never appealed, that modified order becomes the final word on the workmen's rights, but courts can still step in to award fair monetary compensation, instead of reinstatement, to remedy real-world unequal treatment after decades of delay have made reinstatement impractical.