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The Depot Manager, APSRTC Medchal Bus Depot & Ors. v. R.K. Reddy

Civil Appeal · 2018 INSC 1176Decided 7 Dec 2018
Civil Appeal No. 12245 of 2018
Dr. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud · Justice M.R. Shah

Background

A contract driver with APSRTC was terminated after a departmental enquiry; his departmental appeal and review were rejected, and his own industrial dispute challenging the termination was also dismissed by the Labour Court. He then approached the High Court under Article 226, where the Single Judge, relying solely on an unrelated earlier batch decision concerning differently-situated workers, granted him continuity of service from termination to re-engagement for regularisation purposes, without considering his own case's facts. A Division Bench affirmed this.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court, applying the identical reasoning used in its companion APSRTC appeals decided the same day, held that the Single Judge had mechanically extended relief meant for workers terminated without a proper enquiry to a case where a full, unchallenged enquiry had proved the misconduct, and where the workman's own industrial dispute challenging that termination had already failed. It reiterated that continuity of service requires the termination order itself to be set aside, which had not happened. The appeal was allowed and both High Court orders were set aside.

Lesson Learnt

A worker cannot obtain through a writ petition the same relief (treating service as unbroken) that he already failed to obtain by directly challenging his termination before the Labour Court; courts must examine each worker's individual facts rather than mechanically applying a precedent meant for differently-situated employees.

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

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