Babulal Nagar & Ors Vs. Shree
Synthetics Ltd. & Ors [1984] INSC 105 (4 May 1984)
DESAI, D.A.
DESAI, D.A.
REDDY, O. CHINNAPPA (J) VARADARAJAN, A. (J)
CITATION: 1984 AIR 1164 1984 SCR (3) 772 1984
SCALE (1)884
ACT:
Madhya Pradesh Industrial Relations Act
1960-Sections 61 and 66-Order of dismissal or removal from service made against
an employee-Jurisdiction of Labour Court to interfere in an application under
Section 61-Labour Court entitled to examine the propriety or impropriety of the
order-Jurisdiction of Industrial Court to interfere with the order of Labour
Court-Industrial Court can come to a different conclusion on same set of facts.
Words and Phrases-"As it thanks
fit"-Legality"-Meaning of-Madhya Pradesh Industrial Relations Act,
1960, section 66(1).
HEADNOTE:
The appellants were workmen employee, of the
first respondent company. It was alleged that they assaulted another workman as
a result of which he sustained bleeding injuries on his head. A chargesheet was
drawn up by the management was served on the appellants, which was followed by
a composite domestic enquiry at the end of which all of them were dismissed
from service.
The appellants moved five different
applications before the Labour Court questioning the validity of the domestic
enquiry as also the legality and propriety of the orders terminating their
services. The Labour Court finding that the domestic enquiry was held according
to the relevant rules, and that there was evidence in support of the alleged
misconduct, held that the management was justified in imposing the penalty of
dismissal from service.
The appellants filed five Separate revision
petitions before the Industrial Court under sections 66 and 67 of the Madhya
Pradesh Industrial Relations Act, 1960. The President of the Industrial Court
finding that the entire approach of the Inquiry Officer-Manager in arriving at
the findings of mis-conduct in the domestic enquiry appeared to be biased and
unfair and that the conclusions neither fair nor reasonable, held that the
dismissal could not be sustained.
All the revision petitions were therefore
allowed, and the orders of the Labour Court dismissing the applications were
set aside, and 773 the matters were remanded for a fresh decision after giving
the parties due opportunity to adduce evidence in respect of the alleged
misconduct.
The respondent-company filed writ petitions
before the High Court questioning the correctness of the order of the
Industrial Court and a Division Bench held that the Industrial Court exceeded
its jurisdiction by interfering with the findings of facts, and as this was an
error apparent on the face of the award, quashed the decision of the Industrial
Court.
Allowing the appeals to this Court,
HELD: 1. (i) Times without number, it has
been pointed out that Art. 226 is a device to secure and advance justice and
not otherwise. [787E] Sadhu Ram v. Delhi Transport Corporation, [1983] 4 SCC
156, referred to.
(ii) ordinarily, the Courts exercising
extraordinary jurisdiction is loathe to interfere with an order remanding the
matter to the authority directed to investigate facts.
[787F] D.P. Maheshwari v. Delhi
Administration and Ors., [1983] 4 SCC 293, referred to.
In the instant case, the Industrial Court had
made an order of remand. The High Court was not justified in interfering with
the same. By this uncalled for interference, it has merely prolonged the agony
of the unemployed workmen and permitted the jurisdiction of the High Court
under Art. 226 to he exploited by those who can well afford to writ to the
detriment of those who can ill- afford to wait by dragging the latter from
court to court for adjudication of peripheral issues more vital to them.
[787F-G]
2. (i) Dismissal from a service is an order
made under the relevant standing orders. A relief against such an order can be
obtained by making an application under section 61 to the Labour Court. Against
the order made by the Labour Court under section 61, a revision would lie under
section 66 to the Industrial Court. [779H; 780C] (ii) If and when an
application under section 61 is made the Labour Court will have jurisdiction to
decide the legality and propriety of the order of dismissal or removal from
service. When jurisdiction is conferred upon the Labour Court, not only to
examine the legality of the order as also the propriety of the order, the
Labour Court can in exercise of the jurisdiction examine the propriety or
impropriety of the order. [781C]
3. (i) The main part of Sec. 66 clearly
spells out the jurisdiction of the Industrial Court to pass any order in
reference to the case brought before it as it thinks fit'.
The expression 'as it thinks fit; confers a
very 774 wide jurisdiction enabling it to take an entirely different view on
the same set of facts: The expression 'as it thinks fit' has the same
connotation, unless the context otherwise indicates 'as he deems fit'. [785B-C]
Raja Ram Mahadev Paranjype and ors. v. Aba Maruti Mali and ors., [1962] Suppl.
1 SCR 739; referred to.
(ii) Sub-cl. (c) of the first proviso to
Section 66 (1) will permit the Industrial Court to interfere with the order
made by the Labour Court, if the Labour Court has acted with material
irregularity in disposal of the dispute before it.
If the finding recorded by the Labour Court
is such to which no reasonable man can arrive, the Industrial Court in exercise
of its revisional jurisdiction would be entitled to interfere even if patent
jurisdictional error is not pointed out. [785E-F] 4. The expression propriety
is variously understood;
one meaning assigned to it being 'justice'.
Amongst various shades of meaning assigned to the expression, the dictionary
sets out; 'fitness, appropriateness; aptitude; suitability etc.' as some of
them. [781D-E]
5. If the justice or the justness in relation
to a legal proceeding where evidence is led is questioned and the authority is
conferred with jurisdiction to examine the propriety of the order or decision
that authority will have the same jurisdiction as the original authority to
come to a different conclusion on the same set of facts. If any other view is
taken, the expression 'propriety' would lose all significance. The expression
'legality and propriety' has been used in various statutes where appellate or
revisional jurisdiction is conferred upon a superior authority.
[781E-G] Raman and Raman Ltd. v. The State of
Madras and Anr., [1956] S.C.R. 256, Moti Ram v. Suraj Bhan and Ors., [1960] 2
S.C.R. 896, Awdesh Kumar Bhatnagar v. The Gwalior Rayon Silk Mfg. (Weaving) Co.
Ltd and Anr. [1972] Lab. and IC. 842;
referred to.
In the instant case, the Industrial Court
while hearing the revision petitions found that the petitioners were trade-
union workers and that three of them were office-bearers of the union, and that
a material place of evidence clearly pointing to the contrary was wholly
overlooked by the inquiry officer. The Industrial Court also pointed out that
report (Ex D/18) purporting to have been made by the assaulted worker to the
factory Manager on the day following the date of occurrence when properly
scanned appeared to be highly suspicious evidence because: 'it was not dated
and did not bear the endorsement of the officer to whom it was presented. After
referring to other infirmities in the approach of the Labour Court, the
Industrial Court concluded that the entire approach of the Manager in arriving
at the findings of misconduct in his enquiry 'appeared to be biased and
unfair', and 'the conclusions neither fair nor reasonable and any order of
dismissal based thereon could not be sustained.' The Industrial Court was,
therefore perfectly justified in interfering with the order of the Labour
Court. It merely set aside the award 775 of the Labour Court and did not
proceed to re-appraise the evidence but remitted the case to the Labour Court
for fresh decision. It was thus an eminently just order. The High Court
however, observed that the Labour Court could only interfere with the decision
of the inquiry officer if the findings arrived at were perverse. The High Court
completely missed the ambit of jurisdiction of the Labour Court in that it had
the jurisdiction to decide the legality and propriety of the order. Impropriety
as converse of propriety cannot be equated with perversity. The High Court
wholly, misread the relevant provision and interfered with the decision of the
Industrial Court which was preeminently just and within the four corners of its
jurisdiction. [785G; 786A-G; 787A-D]
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal
Nos. 1891- 1895 of 1982.
Appeals by Special leave from the Judgment
and order dated the 11th September, 1979 of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in
Misc. Petitions Nos; 77 to 81 of 1979.
J. Ramamurthy and Ms. R. Vaigai for the
Appellants.
G.B. Pal, S.K. Gambhir, Ashok Mahajan and Ms.
Sunita Kripalani for the Respondents.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
DESAI, J. Nothing appears more well settled than that the extraordinary
jurisdiction under Art. 226 conferred on the High Court was a weapon forged to
overreach injustice and secure and advance justice. When therefore, this
extraordinary power is used to defeat justice and to promote technicality not
only its raison d'etre is violated but it becomes a handy instrument for those
to whom litigation cost is a luxury enjoyed at the cost of others and employed
to exhaust and harass an unequal opponent. Sad as it may appear that
unfortunate situation emerges in this appeal.
The first respondent-Shree Synthetics Ltd.
('respondent' for short) appears to be a
company governed by the Companies Act, 1956. It has set up a factory at Ujjain
where it manufactures polyester fibre. Appellants in each of these appeals were
the workmen of the respondent. There is a trade union of the workmen employed
by the respondent of which at the relevant time three out of the five
appellants in this group of appeals were office bearers. Babulal Nagar was the
President of the Union: Babulal Jaiswal was the General Secretary and Ramesh
Chandra was the Secretary.
776 According to the respondents on June 3,
1975 around 11.10 P. M. One Verma a workman of the respondent on the shift
being over went-out of the compound gate and took his seat i l a tempo when
Babulal Nagar and Babulal Jaiswal along with three other appellant approached
him and asked Verma to alight from the tempo as they wanted to talk to him. On
Verma's disinclination to come out of. the vehicle, it was alleged that Babulal
Nagar and Babulal Jaiswal pulled Verma out of the vehicle and all the
appellants assaulted him with fists and kicks and felled him down as a result
of which Verma sustained bleeding injuries on his head. On hearing the
commotion, staff of the security department intervened and rescued him.
Setting out these allegations a charge-sheet
was drawn- up and served on the five appellants followed by a composite
domestic enquiry at the end of which all of them were dismissed from service.
The appellants moved five different
applications before the labour Court questioning the validity of the domestic
enquiry held against them as also the legality and propriety of the orders
terminating their services. The Labour Court was of the opinion that the
domestic enquiry was held according to the relevant rules and as there was
evidence in support of the alleged misconduct the management was justified in
imposing the penalty of dismissal from service and accordingly all the five
applications were dismissed.
The appellants filed five separate revision
petitions before the industrial Court under Secs. 66 and 67 of the Madhya
Pradesh Industrial Relations Act, 1950 Act for short). All the five revision
petitions were heard by the President of the Industrial Court at Indore who was
of the opinion that the entire approach of the inquiry officer- Manager in
arriving at the findings of misconduct in his enquiry appear to be biased and
unfair and that the conclusions are neither fair nor reasonable and as such the
dismissal cannot be sustained on the basis thereof Accordingly he, by a common
judgment dated February 26, 1979, allowed all the revision petitions and set
aside the orders of the Labour Court dismissing the applications and remanded
the matters to the Labour Court for a fresh decision after giving both the
parties due opportunity to adduce evidence in respect of the alleged
misconduct.
The respondent moved five separate misc.
petitions in the High 777 Court of Madhya Pradesh, Jabalpur at Indore under
Arts. 226 and 227 of the Constitution questioning the correctness of the
decision of the Industrial Court. A Division Bench of the High Court held that
the Industrial Court exceeded its jurisdiction by interfering with the findings
of facts and this was ill error apparent on the face of the award.
Accordingly, it issued a writ of certiorari
and quashed the decision of the Industrial Court. Hence these five civil
appeals by special leave.
Conditions of service in respect of the
employees employed by the respondent are governed by the Certified standing
orders. S. O. 12 (f) which was relied upon by the respondent for imputing mis
conduct to the appellants reads as under:
"12. Disciplinary action for misconduct
(l) The following acts or omissions on the part of an employee shall amount to
a major misconduct:
(a) to (e) xx xx xx (f) drunkenness, riotous
or disorderly behaviour, during working hours at the undertaking or conduct
endangering the life or safety of any person, intimidation, physical duress, or
any act subversive of discipline.
The allegation in the charge-sheet on the
basis of which the domestic enquiry was held reads as under: F "Babulal
was on duty on 3.6.1975 in the B Shift from 3 p. m. to 11 p. m. At about 8.15
p.m. when Shri Satya Prakash Verma, a Telephone Operator and Shri K.
C. Bagdi, Shift-time keeper were coming out
of the canteen after taking their meals, Babulal Nagar and Babulal Jaiswal were
sitting in the lawn in front of the canteen. At that time, Babulal Jaiswal
asked Babulal Nagar to explain to Verma the whole position in Hindi. There upon
Babulal Nagar went to Bagdi and Verma and uttered the following meaningful words:-
You are just a child now. You do not understand anything; if you interfere in
this, you will have to pay a heavy price, (true translation) Verma gave no
reply and both Verma and Bagdi 778 went into the office. Thereafter, at 9.15
p.m. A. K. Awasthi and Rajendra Jain went to the canteen to take their meals.
At that time both the petitioners namely, Babulal Nagar and Babulal Jaiswal
were present there.
Babulal Nagar took out a false token and
challenged that it may be checked by any security official.
Rajendra Jain thereupon said that he was not
in his uniform. At that time, Babulal Jaiswal uttered some filthy words and
thereafter both Babulal Nagar and Babulal Jaiswal left the canteen uttering
filthy abuses.
At 9.30 p.m. Babulal Nagar spoke to Verma on telephone
that he should come out of the Plant as he wanted to talk to him. Verma,
therefore, come out in the lawn from his office where both Babulal Nagar and
Babulal Jaiswal were present. At that time, Babulal Jaiswal said to Verma as
under:- "You have put end to our movement. In future things will not be
right, if you interfere with us, and threatened, that we shall see at 11 O'
clock outside the gate. (true translation) After the shift was over at about
11.10 p m. whom Verma went out of the gate and took his seat in the tempo.
Babulal Nagar and Babulal Jaiswal along with the other three petitioners went
to him and asked Verma to come out of the tempo as they wanted to talk to him.
Verma replied that they could talk to him
there.
Thereupon both Babulal Nagar and Babulal
Jaiswal pulled Verma out of the tempo and all the petitioners assaulted Verma
with fists and kicks and felled him down as a result of which he sustained a
bleeding injury on his head. On hearing the cresc of Verma members of the
security Department rescued him and took him inside the gate.
Apart from anything else, a very serious
question touching upon the jurisdiction of the Disciplinary Authority to hold
an enquiry on the allegation that S.O. 12 (1) (f) was violated would arise
before the Labour Court more particularly in view of the recent decision of
this Court in M/s Glaxo Laboratories (I) Ltd. v. Presiding officer, Labour
Court, Meerut & Ors. wherein S. O. 22 applicable to Glaxo Laboratories (I)
Ltd. which is in pari materia 779 with the S. O. 12 (1) (f) came up for
construction of this Court. After an exhaustive review of the various
decisions:
on the subject, this Court after repelling
the construction canvassed on behalf: of the appellant in that case that such
acts as drunkenness, riotous or disorderly behaviour are per se misconduct
uncomplicated with time place content and wherever committed would constitute
misconduct, held that the various acts of misconduct therein set out would be
misconduct for the purpose of the relevant standing orders, if committed within
the premises of the establishment or in the vicinity thereof. The Court further
held that what constitutes establishment or its vicinity would depend upon the
facts and circumstances of each case. But we shall not finally pronounce on
this point as the industrial Court had remanded the matter to the Labour Court
which has jurisdiction to examine this case and we are inclined to uphold that
order.
Therefore, the narrow question which we
propose to examine in this case is whether the High Court in exercise of its
extraordinary jurisdiction under Arts. 226 and 227 should have by giving undue
importance to a technical objection of jurisdiction which on proper fathoming,
it itself lacked should have set aside a well-considered reasoned judgment of
the President of the Industrial Court which again had merely remanded the
matter thus prolonging to some extent the agony of the unemployed workers
commencing from 1975.
Let us at the commencement acquaint ourselves
with the scope and ambit of the power of the Labour Court as such as the
Industrial Court under the Act which would provide a correct perspective to
determine whether the High Court in exercise of its extraordinary jurisdiction
under Arts. 226 and 227 was at all justified in interfering with the order mad,
by the Industrial Court or that legalese prevailed over substantial social
justice.
Sec. 61 prescribes the powers of the Labour
Court which inter alia includes the power-(A) to decide-(a) disputes regarding
which application has been made to it under sub- section (3) of section 31 of
the Act- Sec. 31 enables an employee to make an application for relief against
all order of an Employer made under ally of the standing orders.
Dismissal from service is an order made under
the relevant standing orders. A relief against such order can be obtained by
making all application under Sec. 61. Entry I in 780 Schedule II of the Act
prior to the amendment of 1981 Provided that the Labour Court may examine:
"the propriety or legality of an order
passed or action taken by an employer acting or purporting to act under the
Standing orders.
The only feature worth-noticing is that the
scope ambit and contours of the jurisdiction of the Labour Court in such an
application would have to be determined within the parameters or the expression
the propriety or legality of an order. Against an order made by the Labour
Court under Sec.
61, a revision would lie under Sec. 66 to the
Industrial Court. Sec. 66 has been wholly recast in 1981. However at the
relevant time, Sec. 66 read-as under:
"66; Revision. (1) The Industrial Court
may, on the application by any party to a case which has been finally decided
by a Labour Court other than a case decided under paragraph (D) of sub-section
(1) of section 61, call for and examine the record of such case and may pass
order in reference thereto as it thinks fit:
Provided that the Industrial Court shall not
vary or reverse any order of the Labour Court under this section (i) it is
satisfied that the Labour Court has- (a) exercised jurisdiction not vested in
it by law; or (b) failed to exercise a jurisdiction so vested;
or (c) acted in exercise of its jurisdiction
illegally to material irregularity;
(ii) notice has been served on the parties to
the case and opportunity given to them for being heard.
(2) No application under sub-section (I)
shall lie to the Industrial Court unless it is made within thirty days of the
date on which the case has been finally decided by the Labour Court;
781 Provided that in computing the period of
thirty days the period requisite for obtaining a copy of the order shall be
excluded." Having noticed the relevant provisions, it is now necessary to
ascertain with precision the jurisdiction of the Labour Court under Sec. 61. The
scheme of the standing orders applicable to the respondent Company would show
that a penalty of dismissal or removal from service can be imposed after
holding a domestic enquiry According to the relevant provisions in the standing
orders, such an order when made would be open to challenge by a substantive
application under Sec. 66 (1) and in such an application if and when made, the
Labour Court will have jurisdiction to decide the legality and the propriety of
the order. When jurisdiction is conferred union the Labour Court, not only to
examine the legality of the order as also the propriety of the order, the
Labour Court can in exercise of the jurisdiction examine the propriety or
impropriety of the order. The expression 'propriety' is variously understood, one
meaning assigned to it being 'justice' in Legal Thesaurus by Burton at page
902. Amongst various shades of meaning assigned to the expression, the oxford
English Dictionary, VOl. VIII page 1484 sets out 'fitness;
appropriateness; aptitude; suitability;
appropriateness the circumstances or conditions, conformity with requirement;
rule or principle, rightness, correctness,
justness etc.' If therefore, the justice or the justness in relation to a legal
proceeding where evidence is led is questioned and the authority is conferred
with jurisdiction to examine the propriety of the order or decision that
authority will have the same jurisdiction as the original authority to come to
a different conclusion on the same set of facts. If any other view is taken the
expression 'propriety' would lose all significance. The expression 'legality
and propriety' has been used in various statutes where appellate or revision
jurisdiction is conferred upon a superior authority. In Raman & Raman Ltd.
v. The State of Madras & Anr. while examining the ambit of the jurisdiction
of the State Government under Sec. 64A of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 as
amended by the Motor Vehicles (Madras) Amendment Act, 1948 to interfere with
the orders of subordinate Regional Transport Authority on the ground of
propriety, this Court observed as under:
"The word "propriety" has
nowhere been defined in the Act and is capable of a variety of meanings. In the
782 Oxford English Dictionary (Vol. VIII), it has been stated to mean
"fitness; appropriateness; aptitude;
suitability; appropriateness to the
circumstances or conditions; conformity with requirement, rule or principle;
rightness, correctness, justness, accuracy".
If the State Government was of the opinion
that respondent No. I had better facilities for operation than the appellant
and their service to the public would be more beneficial, lt could not be said
that the State Government was in error in thinking that the order of the Board
confirming the order of the Regional Trans port Authority was improper."
In Moti Ram v. Suraj Bhan & Ors. while examining the scope and ambit of
jurisdiction of the High Court under Sec. 15 (5) of the East Punjab Urban Rent
Restriction Act, 1949, this Court observed as under:
"Under Sec. 15 (5) the High Court has
jurisdiction to examine the legality or propriety of the order under revision
and that would clearly justify the examination of the propriety or legality of
the finding made by the authorities in the present case about the requirement
of the landlord under s. 13 (3) (a) (iii)." After referring to these two
decisions, in Ching Chong Sine v. Puttay Gowder, Alagiriswami, J. held that tho
court exercising revisional jurisdiction to decide the legality or propriety of
an order has the power to come to a conclusion different from that arrived by
the subordinate court on the same set of circumstances. In Ahmedabad Sarangpur
Mills Company Ltd v. Industrial Court, Ahmedabad and Anr. a Division Bench of
the Gujarat High Court held that the expression 'legality and propriety' in S.
78(1) of the Bombay Industrial Relations Act does not limit the jurisdiction of
the labour court to a revisional jurisdiction. And that any order made by the
employer under the standing order is subject to the jurisdiction conferred on
the labour court under Sec. 78, which can scrutinise the legality and propriety
of the order. This jurisdiction was described by the court as original
jurisdiction meaning thereby that the labour 783 court can come to an entirely
different conclusion on the same set of facts. This view was followed by
another Division Bench of the Gujarat High Court in Manekchown and Ahmedabad
Manufacturing Company Ltd v. Industrial Court, and another. In Vithoba Maruti
Chavan v. S. Taki Bilgrami, Member Industrial Court, Bombay and Anr., a
Division Bench of the Bombay High Court held that the power to decide
'propriety' and legality of the order made under standing order does not confer
a mere revisional jurisdiction but a wider jurisdiction which will enable the
Labour Court to set aside the order of the employer depending upon the facts
and circumstances of the case.
Mr. Pai on the other hand drew our attention
to Vaidyanath v. The Madhya Pradesh v. State Road Transport Corporation and
Ors. While observing that a Labour Court cannot exercise the power of an
appellate court and cannot reappraise the evidence yet both the Labour Court or
the Industrial Tribunal can interfere with the findings of fact of the inquiry
officer of the employer only where they are not supported by any legal evidence
or are so perverse that no reasonable person would arrive at such findings on
the materials placed before him It was held that the power of the Labour Court
or the Industrial Court under the Act are not wider than those of Industrial
Tribunal under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 before the introduction of
Sec. 11-A in the latter Act. In Kymore Cement Mazdoor Congress v. Industrial
Court, Indore and Ors., it was held that the expression 'illegally ar with
material irregularity in sub-cl. (c) of the first proviso of Sec. 66(1) do not
cover either errors of facts or law and they do not refer to the decision
arrived at but to the manner in which it is reached. Approaching the matter
from this angle, the High Court set aside the decision of the Industrial Court
in revision against the order of the Labour Court on the ground that the
Industrial Court had interfered with a finding of fact which even if erroneous
would not confer jurisdiction on the Industrial Court to interfere in exercise
of revisional jurisdiction Mr. Pai emphasised that the view of M.P. High Court
on the interpretation of Sec. 61 should prevail over the view of Gujarat High
Court interpreting a different statute. This does not carry conviction because
Sec. 61 of the Act is in pari materia with Sec. 78 784 of the Gujarat Act.
However, it would be profitable to refer to the decision of this Court in
Awdesh Kumar Bhatnagar v. The Gwalior Rayon Silk Mfg. (Weaving) Co. Ltd. and
Anr. in which this Court while examining the scope of the jurisdiction
conferred by Sec. 66 on the Industrial Court under the Act held that if the
Labour Court has committed serious mistakes, the Industrial Court has
jurisdiction to interfere with the same and upheld the decision of the
Industrial Court which had interfered with the findings of facts recorded by
the Labour Court A full Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in Nand Kumar
Singh v. The State Industrial Court, Indore and Ors held that perverse or
arbitrary findings based on no material fall within the ambit of the phrase
"exercise of jurisdiction illegally or with material irregularity"
justifying interference in revision. It is not necessary to further multiply
the authorities. Therefore, it appears well-established that the Labour Court
having jurisdiction to examine the legality and propriety of the order made by
the employer under the standing order will have jurisdiction to examine the
propriety of the order which will permit it to come to a conclusion different
from the role to which the employer arrived at Such being the amplitude of the
jurisdiction of the Labour Court if upon a wrong view of ambit of its
jurisdiction Labour Court approaches the matter as if it exercises narrow
revisional jurisdiction, the industrial Court in revision can interfere on the
ground of failure to exercise jurisdiction vested in the Labour Court or
material irregularity in exercise of its jurisdiction.
Sec. 66(1) of the Act provides that the
Industrial Court omitting the portion not relevant for the present purpose, may
call for and examine the record of such case and pass order in reference
thereto as it thanks fit. If the Industrial Court has the jurisdiction to pass
any order in reference to a case called for by it thinks fit, obviously it can
come to a conclusion on the same set of facts different from the one to which
the Labour Court had arrived. It was however urged that this jurisdiction of
wide amplitude has been cut down by the proviso which provides that the
Industrial Court shall not very or reverse any order of the Labour Court under
Sec. 66(1) unless-(i) it is satisfied that the Labour Court has-(a) exercised
jurisdiction not vested in it by law; or (b) failed to exercise a 785
jurisdiction so vested; or (c) acted in exercise of its jurisdiction A
illegally or with material irregularity. It was urged that these clauses so
circumscribe and cut down the jurisdiction of the Industrial Court under Sec.
66 as to be on par with Sec. 115 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The main part
of Sec. 61 clearly spells out the jurisdiction of the Industrial Court to pass
any order in reference to the case brought before it as it thinks fit. The
expression 'as it thinks fit' confers a very wide jurisdiction enabling it to
take an entirely different view on the same set of facts.
The expression 'as it thinks fit' confers a
very wide jurisdiction enabling it to take an entirely different view on the
same set of facts The expression 'as it thinks fit' has the same connotation,
unless context otherwise indicates, 'as he deems fit' and the latter expression
was interpreted by this Court in Raja Ram Mahadev Paranjype & Ors. v. Aba
Maruti Mali & Ors to mean to make an order in terms of the statute, an
order which would give effect to a right which the Act has elsewhere conferred.
Is this jurisdiction so circumscribed as to bring it on par with Sec. 115 of
the, Code of Civil Procedure ? Proviso does cut down the ambit of the main
provision but it cannot be interpreted to denude the main provision of any
efficacy and reduce it to a paper provision. Both must be so interpreted as to
permit interference which if not undertaken there would be miscarriage of
justice. Sub-cl. (c) of the first proviso to Sec. 66(1) will permit the
Industrial Court to interfere with the order made by the Labour Court, if the
Labour Court has acted with material irregularity in disposal of the dispute
before it. If the finding recorded by the Labour court is. such to which no
reasonable man can arrive, obviously, the Industrial Court in exercise of its
revisional jurisdiction would be entitled to interfere with the same even if
patent jurisdictional error is not pointed out.
Reverting to the facts of this case, the
Industrial Court while having the revision petitions found that the petitioners
were trade union workers and the three of them were the office-bearers of the
Union. It was further found that a material piece of evidence clearly pointing
to the contrary was wholly overlooked by the inquiry officer. It extracted the
relevant portion of the evidence of witness Balchand and pointed out in no
uncertain terms that if the inquiry officer had taken note of the relevant piece
of evidence and 786 had applied its mind to it and dealt with it in the report,
it would have been difficult to hold the charge proved. The non-application of
mind of the inquiry officer was pointed out by referring to that part of the
final order which manifestly overlooked the material piece of evidence which
would go to the root of the matter. The Industrial Court observed that the
inquiry officer quitely skipped over very material portion of the evidence of
Balchand which went a long way to falsify the charges relating to the incidents
which preceded the actual assault on Verma. 'The Industrial Court then pointed
out that report (Ex. D/18) purporting to have been made by victim Verma to the
factory Manager on the day following the date of the occurrence when properly
scanned appears to be a highly suspicious evidence because:
'it is not dated aud does not bear the
endorsement of the officer to whom it was presented.' This is permissible
because the revisional jurisdiction enables the authority to point something
which is no evidence legally speaking or in the eye of law. It was pointed out
that Verma did not identify the report. The Industrial Court concluded that the
possibility of this report being introduced at a later stage to strengthen the
case against the live appellants cannot be ruled-out. After referring to other
infirmities in the approach of the Labour Court, the Industrial Court concluded
that the entire approach of the Manager in arriving at the findings of
misconduct in his inquiry 'appear to be biased and unfair', and 'the
conclusions are neither fair nor reasonable and any order of dismissal based
thereon cannot be sustained.' Can it ever be said that in reaching this
conclusion, the Industrial Court exceeded its revisional jurisdiction ? The
whole approach of the Labour Court dealing with the report of the inquiry as
also the inquiry itself clearly disclosed material irregularity and thereby the
Labour Court failed to exercise jurisdiction vested in it namely, to examine
the property of the order within it failed to do. The Industrial Court in our
opinion, was perfectly justified in interfering with the order of the Labour
Court. Even then the approach of the Industrial Court, being conscious of the
severe constraints on its jurisdiction was of dignified restraint and just. It
merely set aside the award of the Labour Court and did not proceed to
reappraise evidence but remitted the case to the Labour Court for a fresh
decision. It was thus an eminently just order.
Is it such an order which the High Court
could have interfered with in exercise of its extraordinary jurisdiction ? The
High Court 787 observed that the Labour Court can only interfere with the
decision of the inquiry officer, if the findings arrived at by him were
perverse. The High Court completely missed the ambit of jurisdiction of the
Labour Court in that it had the jurisdiction to decide the legality and
propriety of the order. Impropriety as converse of propriety cannot be equated
with perversity as understood by the High Court. The High Court further
observed that if 'the finding of the misconduct is a plausible conclusion
flowing from the evidence adduced at the enquiry, the labour tribunals have no
jurisdiction to sit in judgment over the decision of the employer, as an appellate
body. This betrays complete lack of understanding of the jurisdiction of the
Labour Court in respect of an order made under the standing order as set out in
Schedule II item I to the Act which enables the Labour Court to examine the
legality and propriety of the order.
The High Court therefore, wholly misread the
relevant provision and interfered with the decision of the Industrial Court
which was pre-eminently just and within the four corners of its jurisdiction.
What left us guessing was that according to the High Court the Industrial Court
had narrow jurisdiction while dealing with the order of the Labour Court, yet
the High Court in exercise of its extraordinary jurisdiction interfered with
the decision of the Industrial Tribunal. Times without number, it has been
pointed out that Art. 225 is a device to secure and advance justice and not
otherwise. (Sadhu Ram v. Delhi Transport Corporation) Ordinarily, the courts
exercising extraordinary jurisdiction is loathe to interfere with an order remanding
the matter to the authority directed to investigate facts.
The Industrial Court had made an order of
remand. The High Court was not justified in interfering with the same. By this
uncalled for interference, it has merely prolonged the agony of the unemployed
workmen and permitted the jurisdiction of the High Court under Act. 226 to be
exploited by those who can well afford to wait to the deteriment of those who
can ill afford to wait by dragging the latter from court to court for
adjudication of peripheral issues avoiding decision on issues more vital to
them. (D.P. Maheshwari v. Delhi Administration and Ors.
788 Accordingly these appeals succeed and are
allowed and the decision of the High Court is. set aside and the one of the
Industrial Court is restored with costs.
As the matter is an old one, the Labour Court
is directed to give top priority to this matter and dispose this of as early as
possible and not later than six months from today.
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