Manesar violence: terminated Maruti worker’s petition for reinstatement junked

The Industrial Tribunal-cum-Labour Court here has turned down the appeal for the reinstatement of a Maruti worker, terminated by the company along with 546 workers following the violence in its Manesar plant on July 18, 2012, stressing the need to instil “strict discipline” in the workforce.

Saying that the dismissal of Ram Niwas from service cannot be termed “wrong or illegal”, Presiding Officer Kumud Gugnani, in her 66-page order last month, said: “Were India to compete with the leading economies of the day, she shall have to induce strict discipline in its workmen force”. She added that “the least that may be expected of the justice delivery department is not succumbing to the oft-repeated sentiment of showing empathy and compassion to the wrongdoer workman and thus breeding more indiscipline under the guise of beneficial legislation”.

Making a prayer that his termination be declared illegal and the company be directed to take him back with full back wages, the claimant, through his counsel, argued that his name was not in the FIR lodged in connection with the violence on July 18, 2012 and neither his name appeared in the Special Investigating Team report nor the witnesses had taken his name in the criminal proceedings. He argued that he was dismissed without any internal probe and the company should have given him the opportunity to place his side of the case. The company responded to the claim saying that the workman was among those who had collectively participated in the violence.

The court observed that “every person indulging in mob violence cannot be named in the FIR”, and it was “nigh impossible to hold separate inquiries in terms of acts of omission and commission on the part of the 546 employees likely to be discharged from office”.

Of the 546 terminated workers, around 350 are fighting a legal battle for reinstatement and consequential benefits under the aegis of Maruti Suzuki Struggle Committee. Khusiram, who is among those seeking reinstatement, said the verdict was a “setback” to the workers as all the cases were similar in nature. A resident of Bhiwani, Mr. Khusiram was working as a fitter in Maruti when the violence broke out in which a human resources manager had died and 90 executives were injured.