IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No.1004 of 1988 Date of decision:01.12.2009 Naib Singh ....Petitioner versus The Presiding Officer, Labour Court, Bathinda and ...Respondents and another. CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE K. KANNAN ---- Present: Mr. Ashwani Bakshi, Advocate, for the petitioner. None for the respondent. 1. Whether reporters of local papers 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 ? ---- K.Kannan, J. (Oral) 1. The writ petition addresses a solitary point for consideration namely, the entitlement of the workman for back wages for the period when his services stood terminated by a wrongful order. The Court found that the dismissal of services of the workman without any form of enquiry was illegal and directed reinstatement with continuity of service. The order was passed ex parte when the management let in no evidence to substantiate the defence. The workman had given evidence to the effect that he was jobless and he tried for work, but he could not find any. There was no cross-examination at all on that aspect although the cross-examination has been to the effect that the workman was guilty of embezzlement and that was not entitled to reinstatement. Civil Writ Petition No.1004 of 1988 - 2 - 2. When there was clear evidence that the workman had not been gainfully employed and when the management had not let in any evidence after filing his statement, the Labour Court ought not to have rejected the claim for back wages without assigning any reason. The award of the Labour Court is set aside in so far as it disallows the claim to the back wages. The workman shall be entitled to full back wages. The writ petition is allowed with cost assessed at Rs.5,000/-. (K.KANNAN) JUDGE 01.12.2009 sanjeev