The other day, I was flipping through some court files related to labour cases I espouse and attend to off-and-on. Generally, we notice that the labour side level all sort of allegations against the managements, and many of the allegations are true horrors, no doubt. But it is very difficult to prove the such allegations, especially of victimisation.

And when an employee does not succeed in litigation, he is left with no option but to become a refugee. Realising this gravity, I felt like appealing to my friends not to close the door on employees who have grievances.

I also urged people who are in a capacity of an employer or in a supervisory capacity or who work with the Labour Department, that they shouldn’t decide an employee’s future based on what comes to them prima facie and that they should treat them with an open mind irrespective of the charges appearing genuine or vague.

Much to my help and further to what all was weighing heavy in my mind, I spent most of the day today, watching proceedings in the Industrial Tribunal, Delhi. 

It is worth sharing what was strikingly visible in an open court of Learned Additional District Judge S C Rajan at the Karkardooma Courts, Shahdara, Delhi.

The Judge, or the Presiding Officer as he is called, was conducting the proceedings with the able assistance of a probationary lady judge. The judges were giving ample time to both labour and management sides. Worth watching was the way the judges dictated the daily orders of each case, noting everything that the labour side would say.

Though they knew that much of what they’re writing today would hardly reflect in the final order, that may go either way. Still, they were cherishing the day’s shine on faces of the workmen fighting their cases.

True, goodness has many colours. I’m lucky to have spotted some, today.