Page 23 - Banking Finance September 2018

LEGAL UPDATE

LEGAL

CASES
CASES
CASES
CASES
CASES

Daily wagers cannot be Supreme Court upholds award of interest by the ar-

reinstated with back bitrators
wages In a dispute between Reliance Cellulose Products Ltd and Oil and Natural Gas
Corporation (ONGC), the Supreme Court has upheld the
When daily wage workers are ille- rate of interest of 18 per cent awarded by the arbitra-
gally termi- tors before, during the arbitration and future interest.
nated, they ONGC had objected to the rate of interest and moved the
cannot be civil judge against the award, but it was rejected, though
reinstated the rate of interest was reduced to 10 per cent. Both parties moved the Su-
with back
preme Court against the order.
wages by
the industrial court. They can only be Reliance argued the civil judge reduced the rate of interest on the ground that
sent away with compensation, the ONGC was a public sector company. It contended that there was no good reason
Madhya Pradesh High Court ruled to reduce the interest. ONGC argued that it was not liable to pay interest accord-
last week in the case of workers ing to the contact. The court rejected ONGC stand and emphasised that the
were employed by State Bank of agreement on the supply of chemicals by Reliance did not reduce the power of
lndore, and later that bank was the arbitrators to order interest. It also agreed with Reliance stating that ONGC
merged with State Bank of India. The being a public sector undertaking was not sufficient to depart from its liability.
daily wage workers sought SBI Cards to pay for unfair practice
regularisation in SBl, which was de-
nied. The workers moved the central SBI Credit Cards was indicted by the West Bengal Consumer Commission for
government industrial tribunal. failing to comply with the settlement arrived at before
the Banks Ombudsman and sending bills after bills,
lt ordered reinstatement of the work- though the card dues were settled five years earlier.
ers with 50 per cent back wages.
The SBl management appealed to In this case, Bhaskar Banerjee vs SBI Cards, the consumer
the High Court, citing Supreme Court owed nothing to the public sector firm but it refused to
judgments which had held that such issue a no due certificate; instead, it continued to send fictitious bills. The
workers were entitled only to com- Ombudsman told the company to issue the certificate but it did not. The mat-
pensation. This view was accepted ter was taken to the district consumer forum. It ordered the firm to pay com-
and the High Court set aside the pensation and stop the unfair practice. Still, SBI Cards did not stop sending bills
labour court order. it ordered the which now mounted to mere than Rs. 95000. Banerjee also found himself in
bank to pay ftp lakh each to the the Cibil blacklist. He appealed to the state commission. It raised the compen-
workers who sought reinstatement. sation amount and severely criticised SBI Cards for its anti-consumer conduct.

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