There is an old principle of law, ‘Justice delayed is justice denied.’ This saying in Hindi means, ‘Delayed justice is injustice.’ This is the principle on the basis of which the concept of ‘speedy trial’ came into the courts and in Hussainara Khatoon vs. State of Bihar (1979), the Supreme Court declared speedy trial to be a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution. What if someone dies but gets only half the justice, what will it be called? The story of DK Sharma case is similar.
The case of an employee of India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) losing his job went on for 34 years in three courts and finally the Supreme Court ruled in his favor. Sadly, DK Sharma died last year. He had said goodbye to the world about a year before the verdict.
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The family will get the outstanding salary
Now DK Sharma family will get 50 percent of the outstanding salary. According to a report in Times of India, whatever salary DK Sharma earns will now be given to his family. DK Sharma was fired from ITDC in 1991. He filed a case against this in the Labor Court. ITDC’s allegations were not proved in the Labor Court. The court ruled in favor of DK Sharma and ordered him to be reinstated on the job and given 100 percent of his outstanding salary. This decision came in 2015.
What decision did the High Court give?
ITDC challenged this decision of eviction in the Rajasthan High Court, which came 24 years later. The single judge bench of the High Court reduced the outstanding salary from 100 percent to 50 percent. Later the Division Bench quashed both the reinstatement and the outstanding salary.
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What path did the Supreme Court show?
After the High Court dismissed the case, DK Sharma approached the Supreme Court in the year 2020. The Supreme Court has now accepted the appeal of DK Sharma and restored the decision of the single bench of the High Court on 50 percent outstanding salary.
Why only 50 percent salary?
The bench of Justice Manoj Mishra and Ujjwal Bhuyan said that DK Sharma had given an affidavit stating that after being fired, he was not working anywhere. ITDC did not have any evidence to refute DK Sharma’s claim. The court said that so much time has passed, the ownership of Hotel Ashoka has also changed, hence only 50 percent of the outstanding salary is justified.
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DK Sharma’s death, now who will be given the outstanding salary?
The Supreme Court has also clearly said that if a person starts doing small jobs to earn his living, then payment of outstanding salary cannot be refused, if suspension or expulsion from the job is done as punishment. Keeping in mind the long service and age of DK Sharma, this decision is appropriate. Now his family will receive this amount.
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