The Supreme Court today modified its earlier order of giving full back wages to temporary LIC employees of grade III and IV, who were asked to be regularised and directed the insurance company to pay 50 per cent of the back wages with consequential benefits considering the "immense financial burden".
A bench of Justices V Gopala Gowda and C Nagappan asked Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) which has filed a review plea, to comply with the direction within eight weeks as the workers concerned have been litigating for the past 25 years in various forums.
"Keeping in mind the immense financial burden this would cause to LIC, we deem it fit to modify the relief only with regard to the back wages payable and, therefore, we award 50 per cent of the back wages with consequential benefits.
"The back wages must be calculated on the basis of the gross salary of the workmen, applicable as on the date as per the periodical revisions of pay scale," the bench said while disposing of the review petition filed by the insurance company.
The workers in the branches of LIC at various places in the country, have sought their absorption as regular and permanent service employees in their respective posts of the corporation.
They were working as "temporary, 'badli' and part-time workers" and have claimed that they had been appointed by the corporation management on daily wage basis against leave and other vacancies of its employees in Class III and IV posts in various branch offices and divisions of the company.
The court said that the computation of back wages must be made from the date of entitlement of the workmen for their absorption, till the age of superannuation.
It said that ordinarily, the aspect of financial burden cannot be a sufficient ground to warrant the court's interference in review petition.
"While ordinarily, the aspect of financial hardship would not be a sufficient ground to warrant our interference in the instant case, but keeping in view the fact that LIC is a statutory corporation operating in the interest of the public at large, on the limited point of payment of full back wages to the temporary and badli workers who are entitled for regularisation, we may reconsider the same," the bench said.
