LATHI NAGARPALIKA Vs. KANAIYALAL VIRJIBHAI SARVAIYA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Being aggrieved and dissatisfied with award dated 29.2.2009 passed by the Industrial Tribunal, Bhavnagar in Complaint (IT) No.4 of 2004 filed in Reference (IT) No.65 of 2002, by which the workman was ordered to be reinstated as a daily wager "Safai Karmachar" with 50% backwages on the ground that there was a breach of Section 33 of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1948, Lathi Nagar Palika has filed present petition on the ground that the order of reinstatement of a daily wager was not justified; the order of payment of 50% backwages is also not warranted in the facts and circumstances of the case and Reference (IT) No.65 of 2002 had become defunct in view of "No Instruction Purshis" given in 2006, which was not taken into consideration by the Industrial Tribunal, while passing the impugned order.

(2.) The parties are referred to in this order as "employer" and the "workman" respectively.

(3.) The employer has contended that the workman was admittedly a daily wager and was never recruited by following the due procedure as prescribed in the Rules. It is also contended that the workman has not worked for 240 days in a year. It is further contended that the Tribunal has committed an obvious error in finding that burden of proof to prove attendance of 240 days is on Nagar Palika. It is also contended that there was no proof that the workman has worked for more than 8 years as daily wager. According to the employer, there was no justification for passing the order of reinstatement and backwages. It is also contended that the Tribunal has misread the judgment of the Full Bench of this Court in the case of Amreli Municipality and judgment of the Apex Court in the case of State of Karnataka v. Uma Devi.