CWP No. 19839 of 2008 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CWP No. 19839 of 2008 Date of decision: 18.03.2010 Shakuntla Devi wd/o Late Sh. Madan Lal ...... PETITIONER VERSUS Union of India and others ....... RESPONDENTS CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH Present: Mr. Madan Mohan, Advocate, for the petitioner. Ms. Kulwant Kaur Kahlon, Advocate, for respondent No. 1. Mr. N.S.Bawa, Advocate, for respondent No. 2. *** AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH, J. (ORAL) Prayer in the present writ petition is for enhancement of the amount of compensation which has been granted by the Labour Court vide its impugned Award dated 01.08.2008 (Annexure P-3) , wherein the order of termination of the services of the husband of the petitioner, namely, Madan Lal dated 22.11.1996 was found to be not in accordance with law and illegal. Counsel for the petitioner contends that the husband of the petitioner was terminated from service while he was working as a Driver CWP No. 19839 of 2008 2 with respondent No. 2-Management w.e.f. 22.11.1996 without following the Rules governing the service. During the pendency of the reference on the dispute being raised by the workman, the workman died on 07.12.2001. The order of termination dated 22.11.1996 passed by respondent No. 2- Management has been declared illegal by the Labour Court vide its Award. He contends that had the illegal order of termination not been passed on 22.11.1996, the workman would have continued to serve respondent No. 2 at least till the date of his death i.e. 07.12.2001. He thus contends that the amount of compensation i.e. Rs. 25,000/-, as assessed by the Labour Court in the light of the fact that the workman could not be reinstated in service, granted to the legal heirs of the deceased-workman is too meager an amount. His further contention is that the said amount of compensation granted by the Labour Court may be enhanced. On the other hand, counsel for respondent No.2-Management submits that the petitioner was found to be driving the vehicle in the drunkard condition. He abandoned the vehicle and left it unattended. Such a person, who was on probation, could not have been allowed to continue in service and retaining such a person, who used intoxicants while driving, was not in the public interest and, therefore, the compensation, which has been granted to the legal heirs of the deceased- workman, does not call for any interference by this Court. He further states that the amount of compensation, as assessed by the Labour Court, has also been disbursed to the legal heirs of the deceased-workman. I have heard the counsel for the parties and have gone through the records of the case. It is true that the allegations against the workman, who was a Driver, are quite serious and misconduct, if it would have been proved in accordance with law, would have resulted in this consequence i.e. CWP No. 19839 of 2008 3 termination of his service. But for doing so, there is a procedure prescribed under the Rules, which needed to be complied with by the Punishing Authority. A finding has been recorded by the Labour Court that the said procedure and Rules were not complied with and the order of termination being stigmatic without following the proper procedure, was not in accordance with law and illegal. The finding, as recorded by the Labour Court, has not been challenged by the Management and, therefore, has attained finality. Thus as of now, the order dated 22.11.1996 passed by respondent No. 2-Management terminating the services of Late Sh. Madan Lal is illegal. The workman has died during the pendency of the reference before the Labour Court on 07.12.2001. The workman would have continued with the Management at least till the date of his death i.e. 07.12.2001, in case the illegal order dated 22.11.1996 had not been passed by the Management. The period thus from the date of his illegal termination i.e. 22.11.1996 till the date of his death i.e. 07.12.2001 would come to a little more than 5 years. Taking in view the said period, the compensation of Rs. 25,000/-, as granted by the Labour Court, cannot be said to be reasonable and just. Accordingly, the present writ petition is allowed. The amount of compensation, as granted to the legal heirs of the workman, is enhanced to Rs. 50,000/-. The remaining amount of compensation i.e. Rs. 25,000/-, as enhanced by this Court, be disbursed to the petitioner/legal heirs of the workman-Madan Lal within a period of three months' from the date of a certified copy of this order. ( AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH ) JUDGE March 18, 2010 pj