2015 Supreme(All) 61
ALLAHABAD HIGH COURT
BEFORE : RAKESH TIWARI AND MRS. VIJAY LAKSHMI, JJ.
RAM CHANDRA ....Appellant
Versus
CHAIRMAN U.P. POWER CORPORATION, SHAKTI BHAWAN, LUCKNOW AND OTHERS .....Respondents
(Special Appeal No. 31 of 2015, decided on 22nd January, 2015)
Counsel :
Dinesh Chandra for the Appellant; Arvind Kumar for the Respondents.
Headnote:Regularisation—Back wages—Driver of U.P.S.E.B.—Appellant was appointed as labour—Regularised as Driver—Claimed back wages as driver from the from the date of termination i.e. 17.11.1979 till date of promotion i.e. 2.1.1997—Services regularised under compromise between the parties—Claim made after lapse of so many years—Liable to be rejected—Appellant not entitled to back wages. [Paras 9 to 14]
Hon’ble Mrs. Vijay Lakshmi, J.—This intra Court appeal has been preferred against the judgment and order dated 5.11.2014 whereby the writ petition filed by the petitioner/appellant has been dismissed.
2. The brief facts giving rise to this appeal are that the appellant was appointed as a driver with respondent-corporation U.P.S.E.B. by the order dated 23.3.1977 of the then Executive Engineer. However, his service alongwith services of some other employees were subsequently terminated on 17.11.1979. Aggrieved by the order of termination the Bijli Karmchari Sangh including the appellant filed writ petition No. 1642 of 1979 which was allowed by the Division Bench of this Court on 27.9.1989 and the following order was passed :
“In view of the above these writ petitions are allowed and the impugned orders passed by the opposite parties terminating the service of the petitioners are quashed. The petitioners would be treated in the service with effect from the date when their services were terminated illegally and they are also entitled to the consequential benefits. No order as to costs.”
3. According to the petitioner/appellant the aforesaid order was not complied with by the concerned authorities. The petitioner filed Contempt Petition No. 79 of 1992 which was dismissed on ground of delay. In pursuance of the order of this Court the appellant was reinstated in service in the year 1992 but he was reinstated on the post of a Coolie and not as a driver. However, on 2.1.1997 he was promoted to the post of driver where he is still working.
4. Being aggrieved the appellant filed another Writ Petition No. 71770 of 2005 claiming his back-wages for the period falling between 17.11.1979 till the date of his promotion to the post of driver i.e. 2.1.1997. The aforesaid writ petition was disposed of by this Court directing the respondent-corporation that in case the petitioner files a fresh comprehensive representation before the General Manager, U.P. Power Corporation Ltd, the same shall be decided by the said respondent expeditiously preferably within a period of 3 months.
5. The petitioner moved a fresh representation which was decided by the order dated 7.3.2006 (impugned in the writ petition) whereby the claim of appellant for back wages and regulation of his service on the post of driver since the date of his initial appointment was rejected by the Corporation on the grounds that as the petitioner himself alongwith U.P. Bijli Karmchari Sangh had agreed for giving up his claim for back wages in pursuance of a compromise filed before the then Labour Commissioner, Allahabad and had agreed to the terms and condition thereof, so now he cannot re-agitate the dispute after about 23 years of entering into the said compromise.
6. Against the aforesaid order dated 7.3.2006, the appellant filed Writ Petition No. 18446 of 2010, which was dismissed by the order dated 5.11.2014, impugned in the present special appeal.
7. Having heard learned counsel for the parties and having perused the record, it appears that the appellant in his representation dated 9.6.2005 (annexure-4 to the writ petition) has himself admitted the fact that he was initially appointed on the post of a labour. The para 2 of his representation is quoted below :
^^izkFkhZ dh fu;qfDr fnukad 23&3&77 dks prqFkZ Js.kh deZpkjh dh Jfed ds :i esa fo|qr foHkkx esa dh x;h FkhA^^
8. Thus, it is clear by the admission of appellant himself that initially he was appointed as a labour. It does not make any difference that he was assigned the work of motor driving by his employers. Being appointed as a labour he was supposed to do any work, he was assigned to do. It is also evident that when the service of appellant was directed to be reinstated by the Division Bench of this Court vide order dated 27.9.1989, that order was complied with by the Corporation and the appellant’s services were regularised. In view of the above, the grievance of the petitioner is that he was regularised on 17.12.