E Humayun Sheriff, a driver with the Villupuram division of the State Transport Corporation in Kancheepuram 1982, met with an accident and suffered serious injuries to his leg, which, a medical board said, made him unfit to continue in the post and so he was removed from service in July 1997.
Following his request, the management appointed him as a junior clerk in 1997 as a new entrant without continuity in service. Sheriff approached the High Court and a single judge had in 2010 ordered in his favour which was challenged by the management.
Dismissing the appeal, a Division Bench, comprising, Justices Elipe Dharma Rao and N Kirubakaran, in its order, said in this case, the management miserably failed to act as per the provisions of the Act and the rights of Sheriff had been violated by the management and he was made to work with lesser service benefits.
"All the instrumentalities of the state should treat the disabled with dignity and give the benefits under the Act and should not indulge in acts which were contrary to the laws in force," they said.
"Therefore, it had to be slapped with heavy cost for having failed to respect the intention and mandate of the Parliament, which enacted the beneficial Act. Only then they would not commit or repeat the same mistake or illegality in future," the bench said.
The bench slapped a cost of Rs 50,000 on the transport corporation and further directed the management to provide continuity in service and other benefits to Sheriff within eight weeks.