SC directs Delhi airport authorities to abolish its contract labour system

The Supreme Court today directed Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) to abolish its system of contractual labour and asked it to pay compensation of Rs5 lakh to each of its 136 workers who were not reinstated after expiry of their contracts.

A bench of Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Justice AK Patnaik said the Centre's notification of July 26, 2004 pertaining to regularisation of contractual labour is binding on DIAL.

"DIAL must abolish all contract labour. Notification is clearly binding on and obligatory for DIAL," the bench said adding that privatisation of airport does not mean the central government has no control over it.

The bench, however, refused to reinstate 136 trolley retrievers, saying their jobs have already been given to others and reinstatement would lead to an "absurd" situation.

The court passed the order on a petition filed by workers' union challenging their ouster.

"We have no hesitation in coming to the conclusion that the notification is clearly binding and applicable to DIAL. DIAL’s obligation with regard to the contract labour in general is clear from the said notification. They are liable to be regularized as regular employees of DIAL," the bench said.

The bench, however, refused to reinstate 136 trolley retrievers, who were removed from their job in 2003, saying their jobs have already been given to others and reinstatement would lead to an "absurd" situation.

"DIAL has replaced many of the workers with other trolley retrievers and it would be unrealistic to expect DIAL to regularize the employment of their current trolley retrievers and member of the workers’ union alike and inequitable to leave the current workers jobless so as to make room for erstwhile workers of DIAL," the bench said while asking the private company to give the compensation of Rs five lakh within three months.

The central government's notification of 2004 clearly forbade the AAI establishment from employing trolley retrievers as contract labour.