U.P. State Road Transport Corporation and Ors. v. Gopal Shukla and Ors. - (01 Sep 2015)

No mercy for abuse of position of trust

MANU/SC/0995/2015

Labour and Industrial

Noting that a bus conductor's position was one of trust within a transport company as he was responsible for collection of fares, and checks to bolster his honesty would only ever be rare, the Court held the Labour Court to have been swayed by its ideal of “forgiveness is the economy of the heart” in reinstating an employee who had embezzled funds from the Corporation. “It does not require Soloman's [sic] wisdom to understand that by virtue of carrying 25 passengers without ticket, loss has indubitably been caused to the Corporation”, the Supreme Court commented on the Labour Court's finding of no personal gain. Reformation and the principle of mercy court are unrelated to the degree of corruption, which, like a tentacular cancer, has to be incised in the whole.

Relevant : U.P. State Road Transport Corporation v. Suresh Chand Sharma MANU/SC/0403/2010 Alamelu v. State MANU/SC/0061/2011 Niranjan Hemchandra Sashittal v. State of Maharashtra MANU/SC/0251/2013

Tags : CORRUPTION MERCY POSITION OF TRUST