Reinstated staff can’t claim back wages after acquittal: HC

Cuttack: The Orissa high court has observed that an employee who has been reinstated after acquittal in a criminal case is not entitled to back wages for the period he was dismissed following conviction. However, the period should be counted for the purpose of eligibility for ex-gratia gratuity and severance allowance, it said.A two-judge bench gave the ruling recently while quashing an order issued by the Central Administrative Tribunal (Cuttack bench) which was issued in the case of Sudhir Kumar Narendra, a post master, on June 3, 2020. He was working at a branch post office in Puri district.While the petition was pending before CAT, Narendra died, and was substituted by his legal heirs. The central govt had challenged the tribunal order in 2022 and was represented by advocate Debasis Tripathy. The two-judge bench of Justices B R Sarangi and Gourishankar Satapathy said, “This court unhesitatingly concludes that for the period from 15.07.1997 to 15.01.2008, which has been treated as put off duty, the deceased employee is not entitled to get any payment as claimed by him as he had not rendered any service for the department. The bench added, “Thereby, the tribunal has committed a gross error apparent on the face of the record by allowing the benefit of back wages for the period which is not permissible to the deceased employee.”

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