The Rajasthan High Court has dismissed a special appeal filed by the state of Rajasthan while upholding the concurrent finding of the Labour Court and the single judge that the termination of a contractual employee based solely on her judicial custody in a criminal case could not survive once she stood acquitted.
The case arose in the backdrop of the respondent’s engagement with the State’s Medical and Health Department. She was appointed as a multi-purpose worker on a fixed honorarium basis in Bhilwara. During her tenure, an FIR arising out of a family dispute came to be registered against her, pursuant to which she was arrested and remained in judicial custody for a brief period in 2002. Following this, her services were terminated solely on the ground of her judicial custody.
The respondent was subsequently acquitted of all charges by the competent criminal court in 2011, after which she raised an industrial dispute challenging her termination. The Labour Court quashed the termination and directed reinstatement. While the Single Judge upheld these findings, the relief of back wages was modified and limited to notional benefits.
Rejecting the State’s contention that acquittal does not automatically entitle an employee to reinstatement, the Division Bench of Justice Anuroop Singhi and Justice Dr. Pushpendra Singh Bhati held that the very foundation of the termination order rested on the pendency of the criminal case, and once the respondent stood acquitted, the basis for such termination ceased to exist.
Finding no perversity or jurisdictional error in the concurrent findings of the Labour Court and the Single Judge, the Court dismissed the special appeal.
Appearance:
S. Rajpurohit, Additional Advocate General for the Appellants
Advocate Saurabh Maheshwari with Advocate Devan Maheshwari for Respondents
