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22. From the long line of cases indicated above, it
can be said without any fear of contradiction that this
Court has not held as an absolute proposition that in
cases of wrongful dismissal, the dismissed employee is
entitled to reinstatement in all situations. It has
always been the view of this Court that there could be
circumstance(s) in a case which may make it inexpedient
to order reinstatement. Therefore, the normal rule that
dismissed employee is entitled to reinstatement in
cases of wrongful dismissal has been held to be not
without exception. Insofar as wrongful termination of
dailyrated workers is concerned, this Court has laid
down that consequential relief would depend on host of
factors, namely, manner and method of appointment,
nature of employment and length of service. Where the
length of engagement as daily wager has not been long,
award of reinstatement should not follow and rather
HC-NIC Page 18 of 23 Created On Sun Jul 23 18:49:45 IST 2017
C/SCA/27409/2007 JUDGMENT
compensation should be directed to be paid. A
distinction has been drawn between a daily wager and an
employee holding the regular post for the purposes of
consequential relief.
27. In our view, Harjinder Singh2 and Devinder Singh3
do not lay down the proposition that in all cases of
wrongful termination, reinstatement must follow. This
Court found in those cases that judicial discretion
exercised by the Labour Court was disturbed by the High
Court on wrong assumption that the initial employment
of the employee was illegal. As noted above, with
regard to the wrongful termination of a daily wager,
who had worked for a short period, this Court in long
line of cases has held that the award of reinstatement
cannot be said to be proper relief and rather award of
compensation in such cases would be in consonance with
the demand of justice. Before exercising its judicial
discretion, the Labour Court has to keep in view all
relevant factors, including the mode and manner of
appointment, nature of employment, length of service,
the ground on which the termination has been set aside
and the delay in raising the industrial dispute before
grant of relief in an industrial dispute. 30.