₹87.6 lakh compensation cleared for 72 former Bajaj Auto workers

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar

72 former temporary workers of Bajaj Auto have accepted a compensation package of Rs 87.6 lakh, sanctioned by the Industrial Court as part of a mutual settlement with the company.

The compensation is part of a larger Rs 13.31 crore package offered to 1,017 workers laid off earlier, following an agreement modeled on the Supreme Court’s judgment in Bajaj Auto vs Rajendrakumar Kathar & Others. The Industrial Court, presided over by Judge S.S. Maudekar, approved the compensation and dismissed separate petitions by 158 workers who opted to continue the legal battle. Initially, all 1,525 dismissed workers had approached the deputy labour commissioner’s office, alleging illegal termination just before completing 240 days of service a key threshold under labour law. They were backed by the Indian Workers' Revolutionary Union. When talks failed, the labour department issued a ‘failure report,’ forwarding the matter to the Industrial Court. During the hearings, the union proposed a settlement on October 11, 2023, which the company formally accepted on November 6, 2023. The settlement was legally contested by some workers through advocates Pradeep Shahane, R.B. Mule, and Prabhakar Joshi, while Bajaj Auto was represented by Advocate S.V. Dankh. Senior Advocate T.K. Prabhakaran and Advocate Sandeep Rajebhosale argued in favour of the compensation deal on behalf of the accepting workers.