DELHI TRANSPORT CORPORATION Vs. INDERJEET SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is directed against the judgment and order dated 13th March 2008 passed by the learned Single Judge allowing the respondent workman's application CM No. 878 of 2007 in WP (C) No. 11742 of 2004 under Section 17 B of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 ('ID Act').

(2.) The learned Single Judge has directed that the appellant Delhi Transport Corporation ('DTC') should pay the respondent the last drawn wages or minimum wages whichever is higher from 24th March 2003 when the application by the DTC for approval of the decision of dismissal of the respondent was rejected by the Industrial Tribunal. It was further directed that arrears of last drawn wages or the minimum wages whichever is higher should be paid within eight weeks and that the respondent would be paid the wages by the 15th of every English calendar month during the pendency of the writ petition. The respondent was directed to give an undertaking that in the event DTC's writ petition was allowed, the difference between last drawn wages and the minimum wages would be refunded by the workman within the time permitted by the Court.

(3.) The ground urged in the appeal is that the application under Section 17-B ID Act was filed in 2007, three years after the writ petition was filed, i.e. 2004, and that this factor itself showed that 'there was no financial constraint on the respondent and there was no financial crunch which could have prompted immediate filing of Section 17 B application.' It is further urged, on the strength of the decision of the Supreme Court in Uttaranchal Forest Development Corporation v. K.B. Singh 2005 (11) SCC 449 where it was directed that the payment of wages under Section 17-B ID Act should be made from the date of the affidavit filed by the workman stating that he was not gainfully employed since his termination. Reliance is also placed on the decision of the Supreme Court in Workmen v. Raptakos Brett and Co. Limited (2008) (3 SC 499 where the wages were directed to be paid from the date of the petition.