NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court has imposed costs of Rs 1 lakh on the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) for pursuing a 32-year-old dispute with a bus conductor over payment of 17 months’ back wages, terming the prolonged litigation an abuse of the process of law.According to PTI report, Justice Amit Mahajan dismissed the DTC’s challenge to a 2004 Industrial Tribunal order in favour of the conductor, observing that the department’s continued litigation over the limited claim had resulted in avoidable expenditure of public money.The court, in its September 2 order, said the DTC could recover the costs from the officer responsible for pursuing what it described as an “insignificant dispute”. Of the Rs 1 lakh imposed, Rs 25,000 will be paid to the Delhi High Legal Services Committee, Rs 50,000 to the PM Relief Fund and Rs 25,000 to the conductor.
What’s the dispute
The dispute dates back to November 1994, when the conductor was accused of failing to issue tickets to three passengers despite collecting a total fare of Rs 67. He was suspended following the incident.Although the enquiry officer had ruled in the conductor’s favour, the disciplinary authority disagreed and issued a show-cause notice proposing his removal from service. He was subsequently removed with effect from August 1996.The conductor challenged the action, following which the DTC chairman-cum-managing director set aside his removal. In 1998, the DTC chairman ordered his reinstatement but denied him back wages and reduced his pay scale.The dispute then reached the Industrial Tribunal, which in 2004 held that the punishment was illegal and without basis. It ruled that the conductor was entitled to wages on his regular pay scale, along with arrears arising from the reduced wages and regular wages for the relevant period.The high court stayed the tribunal’s order in July 2005, but Justice Mahajan found no legal ground to interfere with the tribunal’s findings. The court noted that the DTC had failed to produce the enquiry report or establish a lawful basis for disagreeing with the enquiry officer.
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Justice Mahajan said the tribunal had taken a “reasonable and plausible view” based on the material before it and that its findings were neither perverse nor legally unsustainable.The court also criticised the DTC for litigating the issue of 17 months’ back wages for 32 years, saying the prolonged proceedings over such a limited claim amounted to an abuse of the process of law and caused unnecessary expenditure of public money.