Shimla, May 17: The Himachal Pradesh High Court today upheld a decision of the Labour Court, which had struck down as illegal retrenchment of 1,087 PWD labourers in 2005.
The High Court while deciding the petitions of the state government against the Labour Court ruling also held that labourers would be entitled for seniority and other benefits of the retrenched period.
The labourers would also be given Rs 50,000 in lieu of back wages instead of payment of half wages as ordered by the Labour Court, a division bench said.
The state Public Works Department had recruited 1,087 labourers in Dharampur Division in Mandi in 1999 on daily wages but the successive government retrenched these labourers in 2005 maintaining that they were surplus and their services were not required.
–Agencies