Back wages for illegal termination are discretionary, and relief may be moulded where reinstatement is no longer possible.

Back wages for illegal termination under Section 6-N of the U.P. Industrial Disputes Act are not automatic and must be assessed on the facts of each case. Applying the principles underlying Section 25F, the Court held that relief may be moulded where the workman was on daily wages, the employment was for a fixed term, the establishment had closed, and there was no pleading or proof of total unemployment. The burden on gainful employment lies initially on the workman, and industrial adjudication must remain pragmatic. Full back wages were therefore refused, and the relief was confined to 25% back wages with compensation under Section 6-N.

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Issues: Whether full back wages follow automatically upon a finding that termination is illegal under Section 6-N of the U.P. Industrial Disputes Act, and if not, what relief should be granted where reinstatement is no longer possible.

Analysis: The statutory scheme under Section 6-N of the U.P. Industrial Disputes Act, read with the principles underlying Section 25F of the Industrial Disputes Act, does not make full back wages an inevitable consequence of every unlawful retrenchment. The entitlement to back wages depends on the facts of each case, and the court may mould relief where the workman was engaged on daily wages, the employment was for a fixed term, the establishment had subsequently closed, and no pleading or proof was made that the workman remained wholly unemployed. The Court also relied on the settled principle that the burden on gainful employment lies initially on the workman, and that industrial adjudication must adopt a pragmatic approach rather than apply a rigid rule.

Conclusion: Full back wages were not warranted. The workman was held entitled only to 25% of the back wages for the relevant period, together with compensation payable under Section 6-N.

Final Conclusion: The award of reinstatement with full back wages was interfered with, and the relief was reduced to a limited monetary award reflecting the closure of the establishment and the surrounding circumstances.

Ratio Decidendi: Back wages for illegal termination are discretionary and must be determined on the facts, with the court empowered to mould relief instead of mechanically awarding full back wages.

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