RANBIR SINGH versus SK ROY, CHAIRMAN, LIFE INSURANCE CORP. OF INDIA & ANR.

Citation: [2022] 10 S.C.R. 986 · Decided: 27-04-2022 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: D.Y. CHANDRACHUD · Disposal: Disposed off

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Judgment (excerpt)

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986
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[2022] 10 S.C.R.
RANBIR SINGH
v.
SK ROY, CHAIRMAN, LIFE INSURANCE CORP. OF INDIA &
ANR.
(Miscellaneous Application No.1150 of 2019)
In
(Contempt Petition (Civil) No.1921 of 2017)
In
(Civil Appeal No. 6950 Of 2009)
APRIL 27, 2022
[DR. DHANANJAYA Y CHANDRACHUD, SURYA KANT
AND VIKRAM NATH, JJ.]
Labour Laws – Absorption – Of persons engaged by Life
Insurance Corporation of India as temporary/badli/part-time
workers – Claim for regularisation of workers employed from 20
May 1985 till 4 March 1991 – Dogra Report – Objections of LIC to
the Dogra report – Tulpule and Jamdar Awards – Srivastav award
– Validity of verification in the Dogra Report – Palpable conflict
between decisions of the Supreme Court – Held: The conflict must
be harmonised by taking recourse to jurisdiction under Art.142 of
the Constitution – Directions accordingly issued in the facts and
circumstances of the case – Service Law.
Service Law – Public employment – Equal opportunity and
fairness in public employment – Held: LIC as a statutory corporation
is bound by the mandate of Arts.14 and 16 of the Constitution – As
a public employer, the recruitment process of the corporation must
meet the constitutional standard of a fair and open process –
Allowing for back-door entries into service is an anathema to public
service – A public employer such as LIC cannot be directed to carry
out a mass absorption of over 11,000 workers on flawed premises
without following a recruitment process which is consistent with the
principles of equality of opportunity governed by Arts. 14 and 16
of the Constitution – Such an absorption would provide the very
back-door entry, which negates the principle of equal opportunity
   [2022] 10 S.C.R. 986
986
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and fairness in public employment – Constitution of India – Arts.
14 and 16.
Labour Laws – Absorption – In Life Insurance Corporation
– Interplay between the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 and s.48 of
the LIC Act 1956 – Discussed – Held: Mere fact that a person is
appointed in a temporary capacity by LIC, does not entitle such a
person ipso jure to seek absorption merely by virtue of or only by
reason of such an appointment – Life Insurance Corporation Act,
1956 – s.48 – Life Insurance Corporation of India (Staff
Regulations), 1960 – Regulation 8 – Industrial Disputes Act 1947 –
– Service Law.
Practice and Procedure – Precedent – Conflicting judgments
of different Benches – Two-judge Bench not at liberty to take a
final view at variance with binding decisions of a larger Bench and
of a co-ordinate Bench – In case of difference of opinion, it had to
refer the matter to a larger Bench.
Disposing of the Writ Petitions, the Court
HELD: 1. None of the Counsel appearing on behalf of the
workers in the present batch of cases disputed the factual position,
asserted on behalf of LIC, that the judgment of the two-judge
Bench in TN Terminated Employees Association affirming the
validity of the Srivastav Award contains no reference whatsoever
to the final order dated 7 February 1996 in the batch of civil
appeals arising from the Tulpule and Jamdar Awards in LIC v.
Their Workmen. The interim order dated 1 March 1989 in LIC v.
Their Workmen, which forms the basis of the judgment in TN
Terminated Employees Association, was passed in the backdrop of
a compromise which was arrived between LIC and eight out of
the nine Unions and Associations representing the workers. Since
the appeals were pending at that stage, the Court granted liberty
to the parties to the compromise to implement its terms as an
interim measure, without prejudice to the contentions of the ninth
Union which had not entered into the compromise. But noticeably,
there is a clear omission on the part of the Court in TN Terminated
Employees Association to refer to the admitted position that
subsequently on 7 February 1996, this Court in LIC v. Their
Workmen accepted the submission of LIC that since eight out of
RANBIR SINGH v. SK ROY, CHAIRMAN, LIFE INSURANCE
CORP. OF INDIA
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SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[2022] 10 S.C.R.
the nine unions (representing nearly 99 per cent of the workers
in Class III and Class IV posts) had accepted the compromise,
there was no justification for the ninth Union to object. The Court
held that it would be in the interest of industrial peace that the
ninth Union should also fall in line and act on the terms of the
compromise. The civil appeals in LIC v. Their Workmen were
disposed of in t

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