'Defence plausible': Supreme Court sets aside order on dismissal of conductor for allowing passengers without tickets

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has set aside the Delhi High Court's order, which quashed a direction for reinstatement of a conductor, dismissed from service for allegedly allowing 15 passengers to travel in the bus without tickets.

Finding his defence that he was in the process of giving tickets as plausible, a bench of Justices Manoj Misra and Ujjal Bhuyan allowed the appeal filed by Mohinder Singh through the legal representatives against the High Court's division bench judgment.

The court lent credence to the defence of the appellant made through his counsel advocate Dushyant Parashar that he was in the process of issuing tickets to those who boarded from different points and it was not the charge that he was found with extra cash and that he was letting the passengers go without tickets after taking cash from them.

"There is no dispute as regard the fact that the vehicle, in which checking was conducted, was traveling from Bareilly to Pilibhit. There would therefore be stoppages in between. The evidence on record is that those who were found ticket less, had boarded from different points,'' the court noted.

Admittedly, the court said, 29 passengers were found with tickets.

The bench held once the defence taken by the appellant was a plausible one and it was accepted by the Labour Court too, and further in absence of any evidence of passengers who were not issued tickets, the matter did not call for interference in exercise of powers of judicial review under Article 226/227 of the Constitution.

"When the single judge of the High Court had affirmed the order of the Labour Court, the division bench in an intra-court appeal ought not to have disturbed the award. We, thus, set aside the order of the division bench of the High Court and restore the award,'' the bench said.

By an order on June 02, 2009, the Labour Court came to the conclusion that the inquiry held by the management was vitiated for violation of principles of natural justice. It held charges were not proved and directed reinstatement of the workman.

On a writ petition filed by the management, the HC's single judge noted that 29 out of 44 passengers were found with tickets. In such circumstances, the Labour Court’s opinion that the conductor was in the process of issuing tickets to those who boarded the bus from different points, was a plausible defence and since passengers were not examined as witnesses, the award did not call for interference.

On intra court appeal, the division bench in 2016 set aside the order of the single judge, forcing the workman to approach the apex court. He, however, died during the pendency of appeal and was thus substituted by legal representatives.