Observing that distress and depression are the byproducts of modern life, the High Court of Karnataka dismissed the plea of Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd. (KPTCL), which had questioned the order for reinstating a station attendant who was dismissed from service for remaining unauthorisedly absent from work for around 632 days as he was suffering from depression.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Prasanna B. Varale and Justice Krishna S. Dixit passed the order while dismissing an appeal filed by KPTCL against the judgment of a single judge, who had upheld the labour court’s 2019 order to reinstate S. Kiran without backwages but with continuity in service.