A tense silence hung in Courtroom at Rouse Avenue on Friday afternoon as the Industrial Tribunal-II delivered its award in a long-running labour dispute involving four cattle catchers and the North Delhi Municipal Corporation. After nearly a decade of litigation, the tribunal held that their removal from service in October 2014 was illegal, unfair, and in clear breach of labour law. The relief was sweeping: reinstatement with full back wages and continuity of service.
The case, Sanjay Kumar & Ors. vs NDMC, had quietly travelled through years of adjournments, evidence, and cross-examinations before reaching this point.
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Background
The four workmen - Sanjay Kumar, Mukesh Kumar, Mahesh Kumar and Deepak - were engaged as cattle catchers with NDMC from August 2008. Their job, as the tribunal later noted, was not easy: chasing stray cattle, risking injuries, and often facing hostility from local residents.
In 2013, the workers raised an industrial dispute seeking regularisation of their services. That dispute was pending when NDMC issued a circular in September 2014, asking them to sign a fresh contract agreement. One clause required them to give an undertaking that they would not claim regularisation in the future.
The workmen refused. Soon after, they were stopped from reporting for duty. By October 2014, their names disappeared from the rolls.
NDMC’s stand was simple: they were contractual workers, free to be disengaged. The workers said otherwise - that they had been shown the door only because they asserted their legal rights.
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Court’s Observations
Presiding Officer Sharad Gupta was unsparing in his analysis. The tribunal noted that it was an admitted fact that an industrial dispute over regularisation was pending when the workers were removed.
“The management could not have altered service conditions to the prejudice of the workmen during the pendency of the dispute,” the bench observed, adding that Section 33 of the Industrial Disputes Act exists precisely to prevent such actions.
The tribunal found serious gaps in NDMC’s defence. Its own witness conceded that the cattle catcher’s job was permanent in nature and still continued. There was also no rule shown that allowed NDMC to demand an undertaking surrendering the right to regularisation.
Quoting settled law, the tribunal remarked that even temporary or insecure employment “must subsist during the pendency of the dispute and cannot be snapped without prior permission.”
The argument that this was merely non-renewal of a contract was rejected. The tribunal held that the termination was retaliatory and violated not just Section 33, but also Sections 25F, 25G and 25H of the Act.
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Decision
Holding the termination to be “void ab initio,” the Industrial Tribunal allowed the workers’ complaint. NDMC was directed to reinstate all four cattle catchers with continuity of service and full back wages from October 2014.
The tribunal ordered the corporation to implement the award within 60 days, failing which interest at eight per cent per annum would be payable on the dues. With that, the matter was consigned to the record room, bringing a long legal battle to a close.
Case Title: Sanjay Kumar & Ors. vs North Delhi Municipal Corporation
Case No.: LIR No. 6467/2016
Case Type: Complaint under Section 33-A, Industrial Disputes Act, 1947
Decision Date: 20 December 2025
