MACHHAR FULABHAI SOMABHAI Vs. DEPUTY EXECUTIVE ENGINEER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) BY way of present petition filed by the petitioner- workman under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner-workman has inter alia prayed to quash and set aside the clause (2) of the common judgment and award dated May 05, 2009 passed by the Labour Court, Godhara in Reference (LCG) Nos.297 and 298 of 1995, whereby the Labour Court partly allowed the Reference and directed the respondent-Department to pay the lump sum compensation of Rs.28,000/- to the petitioner in lieu of reinstatement and back wages and further prayed to reinstate the petitioner with continuity of service and back wages. Per contra, the respondent-Department has also filed a cross-petition being Special Civil Application No.1263 of 2010 inter alia praying to quash and set aside the aforesaid judgment and award rendered in case of the petitioner whereby the Labour Court has granted lump sum compensation of Rs.28,000/- to the petitioner-workman.

(2.) THE facts in brief are that the respondent-workman raised an industrial dispute on the ground that the respondent-Department had terminated his services in complete breach of the provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. The dispute was numbered as Reference (LCG) No.297 of 1995 and it was decided by way of the impugned common judgment and award along with another Reference. Being aggrieved by the same, the present petition has been preferred.

(3.) AT this stage, it would be relevant to refer to the decision of the Apex Court relied upon by the respondent-Department in the case of Senior Superintendent Telegraph (Traffic) Bhopal v. Santosh Kumar Seal and others, (2010) 6 SCC 773, whereby the Apex Court has held that in such cases the compensation of Rs.40,000/- shall meet the ends of justice. Paragraph 8 of the above cited decision reads as under :