IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No.10997 of 1999 Date of decision: 29.07.2009 Engineer-in-Chief, Irrigation Department, Haryana, Chandigarh ....Petitioner versus Shri Inder Singh and another ...Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K.KANNAN Present: Mr. D.S.Nalwa, Additional Advocate General, Haryana. Mr.R.N.Lohan, Advocate, for respondent No.1 --- 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 challenge to the award directing reinstatement and 50% back wages is made through the Chief functionary of the Irrigation Department of the Haryana Government on the ground that the workman was merely a daily wager and he did not have a right to the post. The thrust of the argument was essentially on the relief of reinstatement, conceding for the argument sake that the workman had worked between the period 12.02.1986 to 01.02.1988 and that he had 240 days of continuous service before the order of termination. 2. Although the issue relating to the number of days of continuous service was disputed before the Labour Court, the point is not pressed with vehemence in view of factual rendering made by the Labour Court that the workman had indeed worked in the manner that he Civil Writ Petition No.10997 of 1999 - 2 - claimed in his statement. I confirm therefore the finding of the Labour Court that the workman had 240 days of continuous service and his termination had been made without complying with the statutory requirement of Section 25-F of the Industrial Disputes Act. 3. The issue that would still fall for consideration is whether the workman is entitled to reinstatement. In matters of public appointment where the service conditions are invariably regulated through rules and regulations, a workman shall not be entitled to reinstatement as a matter of course only because there is a non- compliance of Section 25-F. A daily wager is not entitled to such a right of reinstatement unless it is shown that there is a vacant post to which he could justifiably be accommodated. Admittedly, he was a daily rated wager and the adequate relief that would be possible for non-compliance of Section 25-F shall be compensation. Having regard to the fact that the workman had a favourable order directing reinstatement and that he had been contesting the case in the hope of the further relief, the appropriate compensation,in my view, would be Rs.25,000/-. The award of the Labour Court is accordingly modified. The workman shall be entitled to a compensation of Rs.25,000/-, which shall be paid within eight weeks from the date of receipt of the copy of this order, failing which the amount shall bear a simple interest of 7.5% per annum. 4. The writ petition is disposed of on the above terms. (K.KANNAN) JUDGE 29.07.2009 sanjeev