Fireman reinstated after 19-year battle

Mumbai: In a historic case, a fireman, Sunil Kashinath Yadav, was reinstated after 19 long years. Mr Yadav (50) was suspended by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in 2000 and dismissed in 2002 as he was accused of abetting his wife’s suicide.

Mr Yadav, however, was acquitted of all charges in 2011 but still had to fight a legal battle to regain his job.

Finally, on March 14 this year the Supreme Court ordered the BMC to reinstate Mr Yadav, who joined as a fireman in Dharavi fire station from Saturday, April 6.

“Mr Yadav will now get arrears of around `50 lakh and is entitled to pension and all post-retirement benefits such as gratuity, leave encashment and bonuses. It is a historic win,” Mr Yadav’s advocate Prakash Devdas said.

Mr Yadav told The Asian Age, “I had to drive a rickshaw these many years to sustain myself, but I did not lose hope.”

Mr Yadav, who hails from Ratnagiri, had joined the Mumbai Fire Brigade in October 1999. He was merely three months into his service when his wife took her own life and his father-in-law accused him of abetment to suicide. The case was registered at Kalyan police station.

Mr Devdas said, “The BMC dismissed Mr Yadav without any inquiry. We had approached the labour court and it allowed him to rejoin work. However, the BMC challenged the decision in the industrial court and later the high court which stayed the labour court’s decision. The BMC even moved the Supreme Court but lost there too. Finally, Mr Yadav has received justice.”