ANILBHAI DAHYABHAI Vs. JASDAN NAGARPALIKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present Special Civil Application challenges the award dtd. 11/5/2007 passed by the Labour Court, Rajkot in Reference (LCD) No.10 of 1997 whereby the learned Labour Court has dismissed the reference preferred by the petitioner for regularization in service.

(2.) The brief facts leading to filing of the present petition are as follows :-

(3.) Learned advocate Mr. K. M. Ghavariya for learned advocate Mr. Murali Devnani appearing for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner was entitled to regularization since he was working on the establishment for a long period. It was further submitted that the sanctioned set-up of the respondent Nagarpalika had vacancy and therefore also, the petitioner ought to have been considered against the said vacancy and regularized by the respondent. He submitted that the petitioner also produced a list of persons who had been absorbed against the sanctioned set-up alongwith a list of vacant posts and therefore also, the petitioner was entitled to absorption and regularization in the regular set-up of the respondent Nagarpalika. It was submitted that on 5/4/2008, the services of the petitioner came to be terminated by the respondent Nagarpalika because he had preferred the present Special Civil Application challenging the denial of regularization by the Labour Court. It was submitted that the petitioner again raised Reference (LCR) No. 192 of 2008 challenging his termination and the said reference came to be allowed by the Labour Court directing the respondent to reinstate the petitioner with continuity in service and 20% back-wages. That the respondent Nagarpalika had thereafter preferred Special Civil Application No. 2928 of 2017 challenging the said order passed by the learned Labour Court, which was disposed of by order dtd. 19/3/2019 whereby the reinstatement of the petitioner was upheld with continuity in service, but the direction for payment of 20% back-wages was quashed and set aside. Lastly and in the alternative, learned advocate for the petitioner submitted that in view of judgment of Hon'ble Apex Court in case of State of Punjab vs. Jagjit Singh [(2017) 1 SCC 148], the petitioner may be granted the wages at the minimum of the pay-scale and the award may be modified to that extent since he is being paid the wages under the Minimum Wages Act even after such a long period of service.