- (1.) Leave granted.
(2.) This appeal is directed against the judgment of the Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The respondents herein had undergone the Nurse's Training Course with the appellant institution and were later appointed there as nurses and continued in service for a period of 12 years. Thereafter, their services were terminated and at their instance the matter was referred to the Labour Court and the Labour Court, by an award, directed reinstatement of the respondents with full back wages. The award passed by the Labour Court was challenged by the appellant on the ground that these respondents had not secured registration with the Punjab Nurses Registration council. The Division Bench did not accept this argument and held that the respondents had served the appellant for a period of 12 years and it was unjustifiable on the part of the appellant to remove them from the service and declined to interfere with the award passed by the High Court.
(3.) We have heard Mr Ashwani Kumar, learned Senior Counsel for the appellant and learned counsel for the respondents. The counsel for the appellant points out that as per the provisions of the Punjab Nurses registration Act, 1932, under S. 17 of the Act, the nurses have to get a registration certificate before getting appointment as nurses in any hospital or any other institution. The counsel for the respondents on the other hand contended that these respondents had undergone Nurse's Training Course for two years with the appellant, and they issued certificate to these respondents and, therefore, the appellant cannot now be heard to say that they are not qualified to be appointed as nurses. It may be noticed that the appellant institution was not affiliated to any university nor had obtained the permission from the Punjab Nurses Registration Council, or under the Punjab nurses Registration Act, to run such a course and even if the respondents had undergone that course and obtained certificates, such certificates are not valid in the eye of the law and all these respondents had not got registration as per the Act. They were not entitled to be appointed as nurses.;