Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation vs Mahadeo Krishna Naik 2025 INSC 218 - Labour Law - Industrial Disputes - Back Wages - Burden Of Proof

Industrial Dispute - Back wages - If the employee pleads that he was not gainfully employed, he cannot possibly prove such negative fact by adducing positive evidence. In the absence of any contra-material on record, his version has to be accepted.- After the employee pleads his non-employment and if the employer asserts that the employee was gainfully employed between the dates of termination and proposed reinstatement, the onus of proof would shift to the employer to prove such assertion having regard to the cardinal principle that ‘he who asserts must prove’. Law, though, seems to be well settled that if the employer by reason of its illegal act deprives any of its employees from discharging his work and the termination is ultimately held to be bad in law, such employee has a legitimate and valid claim to be restored with all that he would have received but for being illegally kept away from work. This is based on the principle that although the employee was willing to perform work, it was the employer who did not accept work from him and, therefore, if the employer’s action is held to be illegal and bad, such employer cannot escape from suffering the consequences. However, it is elementary but requires to be restated that while grant of full back wages is the normal rule, an exceptional case with sufficient proof has to be set up by the employer to escape the burden of bearing back wages. (Para 44)

Legal Maxims - Suggestio falsi and suppresio veri - suggestio falsi and suppresio veri embody concepts of unethical conduct of a party having serious consequences in various fields including law- suggestio falsi is a false representation or a misleading suggestion while suppresio veri connotes suppression of the truth; an indirect lie, whether by words, conduct, or artifice. It is a type of fraud. (Para 23)

Industrial Disputes - The law of evidence per se does not apply to industrial adjudication. Nevertheless, the general principles do apply. In any event, in industrial adjudication, principles of natural justice have to be complied with. Fairness in procedure has developed as the third limb of natural justice. (Para 28) To be relevant, a piece of evidence relied on by a party must be shown to have some logical connection to the case and its admission would be necessary to prove or disprove a fact. Once the evidence is found to be relevant and is admitted arises the question of its probative value. Probative value, as is well-known, refers to the weight or persuasive power of the evidence. It is not always necessary that a piece of evidence found relevant to a case would still demand significant probative value. An assessment has to be made by the court as to how convincing or persuasive the evidence is and how effective it would be to prove or disprove a fact. (Para 27)

Code of Civil Procedure - Section 114 and Order XLVII, CPC - The court can look into any document, having a bearing on the lis decided earlier, which was not on record because despite exercise of due diligence the same could not be produced by a party. It would invariably reduce to an examination as to whether the document has such intrinsic worth that if the same had been produced, the outcome could have been different. (Para 35)

Industrial Dispute - Back wages - Ordering back wages to be paid to a dismissed employee - upon his dismissal being set aside by a court of law – is not an automatic relief; grant of full or partial back wages has to be preceded by a minor fact-finding exercise by the industrial adjudicator/court seized of the proceedings. Such exercise would require the relevant industrial court or the jurisdictional high court or even this Court to ascertain whether in the interregnum, that is, between the dates of termination and proposed reinstatement, the employee has been gainfully employed. If the employee admits of any gainful employment and gives particulars of the employment together with details of the emoluments received, or, if the employee asserts by pleading that he was not gainfully employed but the employer pleads and proves otherwise to the satisfaction of the court, the quantum of back wages that ought to be awarded on reinstatement is really in the realm of discretion of the court. Such discretion would generally necessitate bearing in mind two circumstances : the first is, the employee, because of the order terminating his service, could not work for a certain period under the employer and secondly, for his bare survival, he might not have had any option but to take up alternative employment - The courts are loath to award back wages for the period when no work has been performed by such an employee. (Para 43)