Umesh Kumar Singh, a clerk who was terminated from JKRR High School, Dhanbad, over three decades ago, was reinstated with full benefits from the date of termination. The Jharkhand High Court ruled that Singh was illegally terminated, by no fault of his, and therefore, he should be reinstated and paid all dues for all the years that he should have been in service, and that the same should be taken into account for his retirement benefits too.
Singh was terminated in 1992, three years after he was appointed, as apparently his appointment was not officially sanctioned by the district education officer of Dhanbad. Singh approached the High Court in 1993, following which the school was asked to reconsider Singh’s appointment. However, his appeal was rejected. Therefore, Singh filed a writ petition, following which the Court quashed the termination and asked the state to reinstate the clerk. However, the state government felt that since he hadn’t worked from 1992 to 2009, that is, from the time he was terminated till the time he was directed to be reinstated, he should not be paid for that period.
However, the Court ruled that the termination did not happen due to Singh’s fault; and that the state was in the wrong for illegally terminating him. Therefore, according to the Court, Singh should not be deprived of the benefits that would have been rightfully his, if his service had not been terminated.
In May this year, a similar case had been settled by the Orissa High Court in favour of the employee. The employment of Madhusmita Dutta, a lecturer at Joda Women’s College, was wrongfully terminated suddenly in September 1995. A year later, following an appeal by Dutta, despite this termination being declared illegal by the director of higher education, Odisha, she was not reinstated. This led to a long-drawn legal battle, and finally the Orissa High Court stood by Dutta, ruling that her back wages be paid to her. That is not all; the Court ordered that her service for the period of termination be regularised and she be paid all the benefits that she is eligible for as a result of the same.
