If Conviction Already Set Aside Before Dismissal, then Employee Could Not Have Been Terminated After Acquittal.
Jaipur: The Rajasthan High Court has held that a government employee who was acquitted before his dismissal from service cannot be denied back wages for the period between his termination and reinstatement.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay K. Agrawal and Justice Inderjeet Singh held that although subsequent acquittal does not retrospectively erase all legal consequences flowing from an earlier conviction, though the employee who is dismissed after his acquittal, will be entitled to back wages for the period from termination till reinstatement.
For context, the appellant, a Rajasthan Police Constable, had been convicted by the trial court and sentenced to five years’ rigorous imprisonment with a ₹50,000 fine.
However, the appellate court acquitted him before he was dismissed from service. Despite the acquittal, he was dismissed thereafter and was subsequently reinstated.
The Single Judge quashed the dismissal and granted consequential benefits but denied back wages. Aggrieved by the denial of monetary benefits, the employee challenged the order before the Division Bench.
HC Draws Distinction Between Pre- and Post-Acquittal Dismissal
The Court noted that where an employee is kept out of service because of his own conviction and is subsequently acquitted, back wages are not automatically payable for the entire period of absence. The principle of “no work, no pay” and the circumstances leading to the employee being out of service remain relevant.
But Employee Could Not Have Been Dismissed After Acquittal
Applying these principles, the Court found that the matter is materially different.
The employee had already been acquitted on June, 2017, whereas the dismissal order was passed only on August, 2017. Therefore, the Court held that he could not have been terminated on the basis of the conviction after that conviction had already been set aside.
The Court held that the appellant was consequently entitled to back wages from August , 2017, the date of termination, until February, 2018, the date of reinstatement.
Acquittal Does Not Always Wipe Out Past Legal Consequences
The Court reiterated the Supreme Court’s position that a subsequent acquittal, though it obliterates the conviction, does not retrospectively wipe out every legal consequence that had already flowed from the conviction.
However, where the termination itself took place after the employee had already been acquitted, the Court held that the employee could not be denied back wages for that subsequent period of unlawful termination.
Accordingly, the Division Bench partly set aside the Single Judge’s order and directed the payment of back wages.