Summary
The Supreme Court rejected the contention that completing 240 days in any earlier calendar year permanently entitled the workman to section 25F protection. For the section 25B(2)(a) deeming provision invoked, service had to be assessed in the twelve months immediately preceding the relevant termination date. On the accepted service record the requisite period was not established. The High Court’s setting aside of reinstatement was upheld; the judgment did not hold that 240 days is necessary even where uninterrupted continuous service under section 25B(1) is otherwise proved.
Issues
- Whether 240 days worked in earlier years sufficed for the deeming provision at the disputed termination.
- How the relevant twelve-month period was determined.
- Whether section 25B(1) and (2) were interchangeable.
Provisions considered
- Section 25B, in the version quoted, Industrial Disputes Act, 1947The Court distinguished uninterrupted continuous service under subsection (1) from the alternative deeming provision under subsection (2), whose one-year calculation looked back twelve months from the relevant date. (¶¶ 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
Held
- The section 25B(2)(a) fiction required actual qualifying work during the twelve calendar months immediately preceding the reference date, here the alleged retrenchment. Earlier years with 240 days did not themselves satisfy that test for a later termination. (¶¶ 6, 9, 10, 11)
- The deeming provision did not require actual employment throughout a whole year if the qualifying days were worked in the prescribed period. Conversely, uninterrupted continuous service under subsection (1) was a distinct route and was not rendered redundant by the subsection (2) test. (¶¶ 8, 10, 11)
- On the accepted record the workman had completed qualifying days in various older years but not the relevant period before disengagement. The Court therefore rejected his section 25F claim and sustained the High Court’s refusal of reinstatement. It did not rest the disposition on a general statutory limitation period for industrial disputes. (¶¶ 3, 7, 11, 12, 13)
Result
Workman’s appeal dismissed; High Court decision setting aside the reinstatement award sustained. Parties to bear their own costs.