V.MURUGAIYAN Vs. PRESIDING OFFICER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Writ Petition has been filed, seeking to quash a) the Award passed in I.D.No.136 of 2003 dated 23.03.2011, insofar as the stoppage of the backwages alone of the petitioner is concerned; b) the consequential settlement under Section 18(1) of the Industrial Dispute Act, 1947, bearing Ref:TNSTC/Legal/L2/15/2011 dated 02.12.2011 and c) the order issued by the 2nd respondent in No.ThaApo/T8/Vea/179/2000 dated 26.12.2011, by which a punishment of two years increment cut with cumulative effect was inflicted on the petitioner as per settlement dated 02.12.2011. The petitioner also sought a direction to the 2nd respondent to re-fix the basic pay and all other allowances with continuity of service along with back wages and all other attendant benefits with disbursement of arrears.

(2.) For the sake of brevity, the parties, namely, the petitioner and the 2nd Respondent would be referred to as 'the Workman' and 'the Management' respectively.

(3.) The case of the Workman was that he joined the Management as Driver on 27.11.1989 and his services were regularized with effect from 01.11.1990. While so, when he was driving the bus bearing Reg.No.TN-49-N-1029 from Vedaranyam to Nagapattinam on 28.11.2000, an accident had occurred due to rash and negligent driving of an opposite vehicle / lorry, which resulted in toppling of the bus in order to save the passengers on board. It was the further case of the Workman that for the accident caused, departmental action was initiated and domestic enquiry was conducted and he, after receiving the report, had sent a reply to the Management and the Management, being not satisfied with the explanation, dismissed him from service on 16.01.2002 and the consequential memorandum of appeal had also gone against him. Aggrieved by the order of dismissal from service, he had raised an industrial dispute under Section 2-A (2) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (in short 'the I.D.Act, 1947'), in which, the 1st Respondent, though set aside the order of dismissal dated 23.03.2011, had wrongly denied backwages and other attendant benefits.