HC asks AIIMS to pay over Rs 50 lakh to illegally terminated employee

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has directed the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to pay over Rs 50 lakh to a former employee, who was illegally terminated from service, noting that the man has been running from pillar to post for the last several years.

Raj Singh, who was appointed as a driver by AIIMS sometime in the 1980s, will also be paid Rs 19,900 as a pension every month.

According to the petitioner, he was illegally terminated after which he approached the labour court. The labour court in December 1998 held that the termination of service was an unfair labour practice, Singh said in his petition.

The labour court’s order was challenged before various forums and finally, the Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by AIIMS was dismissed by the Supreme Court on June 3, 2016.

Petitioner Singh, represented through advocate B T Kaul, served a legal notice to authorities seeking compliance of the award and payment of the amount, but it was not paid. Thereafter, he approached the high court.

Justice Prathiba M Singh directed that the man be paid Rs 50,49,079 towards salary for the period from December 4, 1998, which is the date of award, and the date of superannuation, which is October 31, 2016, his leave encashment and his gratuity. It was directed that Rs 19,900 be paid to him as a monthly pension.

This amount was calculated by the authorities and the court was informed about it. However, the basis for the computation has still not been explained.

”However, considering that the petitioner (Singh) has been running from pillar to post since 2016 when the Supreme Court dismissed the SLP till date, the respondents (authorities) are directed to pay the amounts in terms of order dated March 9, 2021, on or before October 30, 2021, to the petitioner workman,” the high court said in its October 12 order.

The court was also told by advocate Sonali Malhotra, representing AIIMS officials, that the workman was also required to deposit Rs 30,000 as a lifetime validation amount for being enrolled under the Employees Health Scheme.

To this, the court said that in view of the long duration for which Singh has been fighting the present litigation, the amount of Rs 30,000 shall now be deposited on his behalf by AIIMS itself, in lieu of costs for the long-drawn litigation.

It said all the amounts due and payable shall be released by October 30 and a compliance affidavit giving the details of the computation and the manner in which it has been done, as also confirming the payment, shall be filed on or before November 15.

The court asked the petitioner’s counsel to give details of the workman’s bank accounts to the counsel for AIIMS for remitting the payment.