In Brief
A cooperative marketing society terminated a peon's employment in 1985. The Labour Court found the termination illegal and awarded compensation. The peon accepted the compensation, but later claimed the right to be rehired after the society regularized two other peons' services in 1992. The Supreme Court held that once compensation is accepted, the matter concludes and the peon cannot later invoke reemployment rights under Section 25(H) of the Industrial Disputes Act. Crucially, regularizing an already-employed worker is not 'employment' of a new person, so it does not trigger the statutory duty to offer reemployment to the retrenched worker. The Court distinguished between 'employment' (recruiting for vacancies) and 'regularization of service' (formalizing an existing worker's status). Appeal allowed; the Labour Court's dismissal was restored.
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