The Madras High Court has ruled that an employee removed from service due to conviction in a corruption case by the trial court is entitled for back wages if he wins his appeal in an appellate court.
Besides if the employee wins the appeal on merit, he is entitled for continuity of service also, justices S Manikumar and C T Selvam of the Madurai bench said, dismissing a writ appeal by Executive Officer of Mamsapuram Panchayat against a single judge's 2013 order to reinstate an employee who was dismissed in 2008.
The principle of "no work, no pay" cannot be applied in every case. Every employee reinstated in service on acquittal cannot be denied back wages and continuity of service. Once the conviction is set aside by an appellate court, the stigma is removed, the judges said.
The employee should be restored to his original position as if he was not removed and continued to be in service all along, the Judges said.
They disagreed with the Executive Officer's contention that the single judge had exceeded his constitutional authority by ordering back wages.
A Special Court in Virudhunagar had convicted the Panchayat's Sanitary Supervisor Solaiappan on November 24, 2005 and the local body had removed him from service on December 22, 2008.
In the meantime he got his conviction set aside on April 11, 2011 on the ground that the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubts and the sanction granted for prosecuting him was not in order.
Two years later he filed another petition in the High Court which allowed it and directed his reinstatement.