In Brief
A Round Forester dismissed in 1968 filed an industrial reference in 1995 seeking reinstatement and back-wages, after civil courts had affirmed his dismissal. The Labour Court granted reinstatement; the High Court modified this to grant retiral benefits on the basis of deemed continuation in service. The Supreme Court held that no industrial reference for reinstatement could be entertained since the workman had superannuated in 1992, before the reference was made. The Labour Court's award was legally infirm, and the High Court should have corrected it rather than devise a workaround. The appeal was allowed and both orders were set aside, though no recovery was ordered from amounts already received given the workman's age."
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