IMPORTANT POINT
Even if dismissal is in contravention of prescribed procedure and is set aside reinstatement would not follow automatically.

JUDGEMENT

R.M. Lodha, J.—

Delay condoned. Leave granted.

2. In this appeal by special leave, the workman has challenged the judgment and order passed by the Division Bench of Delhi High Court on March 18, 2008 whereby monetary compensation of Rs.60,000/- has been ordered to be paid by the Management to him in lieu of reinstatement and back wages.

3. The Appellant (for short “workman”) was employed by Oberoi Flight Services-Respondent (for short “Management”) as a loader on March 10, 1980. Allegedly on August 31, 1986 while returning from duty, the workman was found carrying 30 KLM soup spoons illegally in his shoe. The workman is said to have admitted his guilt in writing on August 31, 1986 itself and then again on the next day i.e. September 1, 1986. The Management acting on the said admission of guilt by the workman, vide order dated September 3, 1986 dismissed him from service. Having been unsuccessful in his representation and legal notice to the Management, the workman raised industrial dispute before the appropriate Government which was referred for adjudication to the Labour Court, Delhi on June 19, 1987.

4. The workman in his statement of claim before the Labour Court set out that being a union leader, the Management hatched a conspiracy against him for his removal and obtained confession letters under threat and coercion. He also set up the plea that without holding any inquiry and in breach of the principles of the natural justice, the order of dismissal was passed by the Management. In the written statement, the Management, on the other hand, narrated the circumstances in which the workman had stolen 30 KLM soup spoons by carrying them in his shoe. The parties led evidence in support of their respective stand. The Labour Court, after hearing the parties, vide his award dated January 31, 1996 held that order of dismissal passed by the Management was contrary to law but at the same time it also held that the dismissal of the workman from the service of the Management was not unjustified. The Labour Court, however, awarded full back wages to the workman from the date of his dismissal until the date of award.

5. The workman challenged the award of the Labour Court by filing Writ Petition which was heard by the Single Judge. The Single Judge held that workman has failed to make out any ground for interference with the impugned award and, consequently, dismissed the Writ Petition on July 30, 2007.

6. Not satisfied with the order of the Single Judge, the workman preferred Letters Patent Appeal. The Division Bench held that it was difficult to believe the contention of the Management that 30 KLM soup spoons could be put in a shoe and that workman walked with the said spoons in his shoe from the work area to the security check area. The Division Bench also noticed that Management having not conducted any enquiry, the dismissal of workman without issuing him charge- sheet or a show cause notice was unsustainable. However, the Division Bench vide his judgment dated March 18, 2008 did not deem it proper to order reinstatement of the workman and instead directed the Management to pay him Rs.60,000/- in full and final settlement of the claim. It is this part of the order which is under challenge in this appeal.

7. This Court in U.P. State Brassware Corporation Ltd. V. Uday Narain Pandey,1 JT 2005(10)SC344. held thus:

“41. The Industrial Courts while adjudicating on disputes between the Management and the workman, therefore, must take such decisions which would be in consonance with the purpose the law seeks to achieve. When justice is the buzzword in the matter of adjudication under the Industrial Disputes Act, it would be wholly improper on the part of the superior courts to make them apply the cold letter of the statutes to act mechanically. Rendition of justice would bring within its purview giving a person what is due to him and not what can be given to him in law. 42. A person is not entitled to get something only becaus