PALITANA MUNICIPALITY Vs. LALUBHA PRAVINSINH PARMAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner herein has prayed to quash and set aside the impugned award dated 17.03.2012 passed by the Industrial Tribunal at Bhavnagar in Reference Case No. 15 of 1999 whereby the Tribunal has directed the petitioner Municipality to regularize the respondent workman to his original post with effect from November 1999 till the date of award after considering the interregnum period as notional. The Tribunal also directed the petitioner to pay salary at par with other regular employees.

(2.) IT is the case of the petitioner that the respondent no. 1 who was working as peon with the petitioner municipality was not regularized on his original post though other persons quite junior to him were regularized. The petitioner along with two other employees therefore filed Reference Case No. 15/1999 before the Tribunal. The Tribunal after hearing the parties passed the aforesaid award qua present respondent no.1 but rejected the reference qua other two persons. Being aggrieved by the said award qua present respondent no. 1, the petitioner municipality has filed the present petition.

(3.) MR . Krunal Pandya, learned advocate appearing for respondent workman has supported the award passed by the Tribunal and submitted that considering the service of the workman and the fact that other employees who were junior to the respondent no. 1 have been regularized, the Tribunal is justified in regularizing the respondent workman. He has relied upon a decision of the Apex Court in a Constitution Secretary, State of Bench judgment in the case of Karnataka and others v. Umadevi and others [(2006) 4 SCC 1], para 53 which reads as under: