Shere joined the company in 1981 and was earning Rs 10, 567 per month, said advocate Atul Dixit, counsel for Shere. On August 20, 1999 at about 3.15 pm, he was caught by the company’s vigilance squad allegedly stealing a bag containing 183 nozzles worth Rs 62,037. The company said in the charge sheet that a security guard had received an anonymous call that one person had a habit of stealing material from the company by throwing it over the compound wall. The vigilance squad laid a trap and caught Shere red-handed when he had kept the bag of nozzles on the compound wall and was about to jump over the wall, the chargesheet said.

“These charges have been proved in the departmental inquiry conducted by the company. Shere, too had accepted these charges in writing, which was produced before the court,” said H S Chitnis, manager (law), human resource, Tata Motors. However, the court order said the company could not provide any other solid proof of Shere either being a habitual thief or having been caught red-handed while stealing the nozzles.

Tata Motors has appealed the verdict in Pune District Industrial Court. S S Sane, assistant general manager (Law), Tata Motors said that they are ready to fight the matter even in the Supreme Court, if need be.

“The charge that Shere was attempting to jump over the compound wall containing 183 nozzles are baseless. The compound wall is about nine feet in height and it is impossible for a person to jump over it without any help. On the contrary, the chargesheet mentions that he had kept the black bag containing nozzles on the wall and then was about to jump off it,” Dixit said.

He further argued that the time of incident was around 3.15 pm, when the first shift of the company had got over and employees were heading to catch the bus. Moreover, the said location is hardly seven feet from the main gate of Pimpri works, which has about 25 security guards at any given time. “It is unlikely for any person with intention of theft to choose this time and location,” Dixit said.

The court order goes on to say that there was no report about the missing nozzles from the store. Considering this, Judge N B Yenurkar of Pune labour court passed the order that the company exercised its rights as an employer in bad faith of the employee.