CHIF MUNICIPAL OFFICER, DEWAS Vs. ZAHEER KANSURI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has filed the present petition under Article 227 of the Constitution of India being aggrieved by the award dtd. 11/1/2019 passed in Case No.51/IDR/2017, whereby the petitioner has been directed to reinstate the respondent with full backwages.

(2.) It is stated that the petitioner has filed the present petition by assailing the order dtd. 11/1/2019 mainly on the ground that the private respondents have not discharged the initial burden placed upon them to prove his case that he worked for continuously for 240 days in a calendar year and in the absence of same, the trial court has shifted the burden on the petitioner to prove that private respondents had continuously worked with the petitioner for a period of more than 240 days.

(3.) Counsel for the petitioner has relied upon the decisions of Apex Court in the cases of Prabhakar vs. Joint Director, Sericulture Department and Another reported in (2015) 15 SCC 1 (Para 5, 8, 9, 22 to 32) and Range Forest Officer vs. S.T. Hadimani (2002) reported in 3 SCC 25 (Para 3) to submit that the initial burden lies on the workman to prove his case and the same cannot be shifted to the employer to his detriment.