DEHRADUN: A former employee of the Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan, who was unfairly terminated in 1980, will be paid arrears and pension — 41 years after he first took the legal route.
On Tuesday, the single bench of justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari in Uttarakhand high court held that Kan Singh Rana, a resident of Dehradun, was “wrongfully terminated” and, thus, should be given all retirement benefits, including pension, along with arrears.
Rana, now 78, had alleged in the labour court in 1980 — the year he was dismissed — that the jal sansthan had terminated his services “without any notice and clear reason”. In 2006, the labour court ruled in Rana’s favour, but his employer challenged the judgment in the high court.
Jal sansthan had argued that the judgment was “one-sided and they had not been given a proper chance to present their side of the argument.” The high court had then asked the labour court to hear the employer’s argument in the case. Rana’s employer reasoned in court that he was terminated after he failed to report to work for 240 days at a stretch.
The labour court’s second judgment also favoured Rana following which the employer again approached the high court. In the final hearing of the case on Tuesday, the high court upheld the labour court’s judgment and directed the department to pay Rana his dues.
