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Sarita Singh vs. M/s Shree Infosoft Private Limited

Civil Appeal · 2022 INSC 45Decided 12 Jan 2022
Civil Appeal No. 346 of 2022
Dr. Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud · A.S. Bopanna

Background

Sarita Singh, a software developer, was sent by her employer on a short one-week (later extended to about a month) business visit to the US in 2013, after which she was promoted with a higher salary. She resigned a few months later after facing workplace issues under new management. The company then sued her for about Rs. 5.7 lakh, claiming her US visit was an "overseas deputation" under her employment contract obligating her to serve a minimum period afterward or repay the company's expenses; the trial court, first appellate court, and Punjab & Haryana High Court all ruled against her and upheld a partial recovery decree.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court allowed her appeal and dismissed the recovery suit entirely, holding that "deputation" has a specific, well-settled legal meaning (a formal, consensual, documented arrangement to work outside one's parent department/employer for a defined period) and a brief undocumented business trip does not qualify. The company, as the party claiming recovery, bore the burden of proving she was sent on deputation under the contractual clause, and it produced no evidence of any deputation letter or agreement; her version, that it was simply a business meeting, was unrebutted. The Court also strongly criticized the company for dragging a former employee who had merely raised workplace grievances and resigned into years of litigation, calling it "needless harassment" and a "reprisal," and awarded her Rs. 1 lakh in litigation costs.

Lesson Learnt

A contractual clause about "deputation" or similar service-bond conditions cannot be invoked loosely against an employee for an ordinary business trip; the employer must prove the specific formal arrangement the clause actually requires, and courts will penalize employers who use litigation to retaliate against employees who raise legitimate grievances.

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

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