C.W.P No. 9405 of 1992 (O&M) ::1:: IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH C.W.P No. 9405 of 1992 (O&M) Date of decision : April 19, 2011 Punjab State through the Executive Engineer, Drainage Construction Division, Amritsar. ...... Petitioner v. Pritoo and others, ...... Respondents *** CORAM : HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE AJAY TEWARI *** Present : Mr. S.S.Chandumajra, DAG Punjab for the petitioner. Mr. V.K.Kaushal, Advocate for the respondents. *** 1. Whether Reporters of Local Newspapers may be allowed to see the judgment ? 2. To be referred to the Reporters or not ? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest ? *** AJAY TEWARI, J (Oral) This writ petition has been filed against the Award dated 21.11.1990. Brief facts are that respondent Nos.1 to 20-workmen worked as work charged employees on a few Ditch-cum-Bunds near Indo-Pak Border in Amritsar District belonging to the Defence Department, Government of C.W.P No. 9405 of 1992 (O&M) ::2:: India, the control of which was under the petitioner for the purpose of maintenance of those Ditch-cum-Bunds (Drains). When the writ petition came up for motion hearing, the implementation of the Award was stayed subject to the provisions of Section 17B of the Industrial Disputes Act. Thus, now for the last two decades, respondents-workmen have been granted the benefit of payment without work. In my opinion, the finding of the Labour Court is completely perverse. It is not disputed that the workmen were inducted as worked charged employees without following any procedure of law. In the circumstances, it would not be in the interest of justice to perpetuate the initial illegality. In the circumstances, in my opinion it would be in the interest of justice to treat the amount paid under Section 17B of the Act as compensation to respondent Nos.1 to 20 for their wrongful termination. This writ petition is disposed of in the above terms. No costs. ( AJAY TEWARI ) April 19, 2011. JUDGE `kk'