In Brief
A bus driver employed as a temporary (badli) worker by a state transport corporation was terminated after an accident in 2003 when his driving licence was seized. The Labour Court awarded him reinstatement with partial back wages. During the pendency of the corporation's challenge to this award in the High Court, the corporation gave the driver a fresh appointment as a daily wage worker (March 2007), which was later regularised. When the High Court quashed the Labour Court's award, the corporation terminated the driver based on that order. The Supreme Court held that the fresh appointment was independent of the original dispute and, once regularised, could not be terminated by invoking the earlier order. The driver was reinstated with full back wages, continuity of service, and litigation costs."
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