Prayagraj, Amrit thoughts. The Allahabad High Court refused to give relief to the jailed employee for payment of wages during the imprisonment period, saying that only such relief can be given in rare cases. If there is any obstruction in the discharge of the duties of the employees by the employer, then the principle of ‘no work’ can be sidelined.
The court, citing the Supreme Court’s decision, said that if the employee is absent from work due to his involvement in any misconduct, then the burden of payment of salary of the period of absence cannot be imposed on the employer. The said comment was made by a single bench of Justice Ajay Bhanot, dismissing Shivakar Singh’s petition. In fact, the petitioner was accused of taking bribe for electricity connection from consumers under Section 13 (1) (B) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
After this, the petitioner remained in jail from January 2015 to December 2018 after the Superintendent of Police of the Anti -Corruption Department lodged an FIR against the petitioner in Hathras on the complaint of a consumer. After being released from jail, the petitioner gave a representation before the Authority to pay the wages of the said period, which was rejected on the basis of the principle ‘no work or no salary’. The petitioner then approached the High Court to pay his salary.
Given the facts of the case, the court believed that the payment of the previous salary of the petitioner would cause unfair loss to the state treasury, as the petitioner was not absent from the work under any departmental inquiry, but was facing imprisonment in the alleged charge. Therefore, during the period of imprisonment, there is no valid basis for payment of outstanding salary.
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