2005 Supreme(SC) 1031

2005(8) Supreme 460
Supreme Court of India
Arijit Pasayat & H.K. Sema, JJ.
State of Punjab & Ors. —Appellants
versus
Des Bandhu —Respondent
Civil Appeal No. 9042 of 2003
Decided on 11-8-2005
Counsel for the Parties :
For the Appellants : Kuldip Singh and Arun Kr. Sinha, Advocates.
For the Respondent : Vinay Mohan Sharma, B.S. Jain, Ravinder Yadav, Ajay Vir Jain, Dr. Ms. Vipin Gupta, Advocates.

Headnote:Industrial Disputes Act, 1947—Section 25F—Obligations on employer at the time of termination of service—Non-compliance with requirements—Relief to be granted for breach of such obligation—Question whether it would be for a direction for compliance with Section 25-F itself which would amount payment of sums mentioned therein or would be for reinstatement in service?

       Held : An important question that may arise is that if it is held that there is non-compliance with the requirements of Section 25-F, what would be the form of relief that can be granted for breach of such obligation. The question would be whether it would be for a direction for compliance with Section 25-F itself which would amount to payment of the sums mentioned therein or whether the direction would be for reinstatement in service for alleged breach of the requirements of Section 25-F. We notice that a three-Judge Bench of this Court in Manager, Reserve Bank of India v. S. Mani, (2005) 5 SCC 100 : 2005 SCC (L&S) 609 observed that the effect of non-compliance with Section 25-F would be a direction for reinstatement only to restore the workmen to the same status which they held when their services were terminated. Since the issues involve important questions, we requested Dr. Rajeev Dhavan, learned Senior Counsel present in the Court to assist us as amicus curiae in this matter which he has agreed. (Para 1)