An unexplained eight-year delay and perverse findings warrant setting aside an industrial award.

The workman, a KSRTC conductor, was charged with failing to issue tickets to two passengers after collecting the fare.

Following a domestic enquiry, the disciplinary authority permanently reduced his basic pay by two annual incremental stages and treated his suspension period as not being on duty.

The workman claimed to have appealed, but produced no proof of the appeal. He sought a reference in 2011, eight years after the penalty order of 20 September 2003.

The Tribunal allowed the reference by an award dated 25 October 2019. KSRTC challenged that award under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution.

Whether the Tribunal erred in allowing the reference despite the workman’s unexplained eight-year delay in challenging the penalty order

Whether the Tribunal’s finding in the workman’s favour was sustainable in light of the evidence that two passengers were travelling without tickets

The Court exercised its jurisdiction under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution to review the Tribunal’s award.

It applied the principles that an unexplained delay in seeking a reference may warrant rejection of the claim, and that a Tribunal’s finding unsupported by the record or contrary to the evidence may be set aside as perverse.

The judgment cites no specific statute governing the reference or precedents.

The workman did not establish that he had filed an appeal or explain the eight-year interval before seeking a reference; the Tribunal had condoned the delay without giving reasons.

On the merits, the passengers were found without tickets, had paid a penalty, and had given statements confirming that they were travelling ticketless. The workman offered no material to disprove this evidence; his account that the passengers had boarded shortly before the stop to reserve seats was unsupported.

The Court therefore held that the Tribunal had accepted that explanation without supporting material, rendering its finding perverse and contrary to the record.