SARABHAI CHEMICALS Vs. SUBHASH N PANDYA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The challenge in this application is to the award passed by the Labour Court of Baroda holding that the opponent company who is the applicant before us was acting illegally in retrenching the worker who is the respondent here. The Labour Court set aside the order and directed reinstatement of the worker in his original post with full back wages within 30 days of the publication of the award. The ground of challenge is that the worker concerned was only a Badli worker that therefore there was no relationship of employer and employee and retrenchment of such a worker will not attract the provisions of sec. 25-F of the Industrial Disputes Act 1947 The further contention is that even assuming that the retrenchment was illegal the direction to reinstate the workman with back wages was not called for.

(2.) By a very well considered judgment the Labour Court has rightly found that there was retrenchment and that was in contravention of sec. 25-F. That being so it found the retrenchment illegal.

(3.) The statement filed as Annexure B along with the Special Civil Application shows that the Badli worker concerned was in the list of Badli workers ever since 1972 till the date of discharge on 15 In fact it is seen that even as early as in 1973 he had worked for 251 days in the year which would be sufficient to bring him within the scope of sec. 25-F of the Industrial Disputes Act read with sec. 25-B of the Act. That being so retrenchment of such a worker without complying with sec. 25-F it is admitted that there is no such compliance would be illegal and liable to be set aside by the Court. That is what was done.