Century Textiles and Industries Ltd.and another vs Century Pulp and Paper Staff Association

MANOJ K. TIWARI, J. (ORAL)

By means of this petition under Article 227 of the Constitution of India, employer has challenged the order passed by Presiding Officer, Industrial

Tribunal/Labour Court, Haldwani (hereinafter referred to as “Labour Courtâ€​) on 15.10.2016 in Adjudication Case No.33 of 2014.

It transpires that an industrial dispute was raised by the respondent, which was referred for adjudication to the Labour Court after failure of

conciliation proceedings. Both the parties filed their written statement and thereafter respondent filed an application, in which prayer was made to

summon certain documents which are in the custody of employer. Employer filed objection against said application contending that burden of proof is

upon the workman, which cannot be shifted to the employer.

Learned Labour Court allowed the application filed by the respondent vide order dated 15.10.2016 on the ground that the documents, production

whereof has been sought by the respondent Union, are in the custody of the employer and for adjudication of the dispute referred, those documents

would be necessary.

Feeling aggrieved by the order dated 15.10.2016, employer has filed this writ petition.

Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the material on record.

After considering the rival submission made by learned counsel for the parties, this Court is not inclined to interfere with the order dated 15.10.2016

passed by learned Labour Court for the following reasons:-

(i) Order dated 15.10.2016 is an interlocutory order, which does not decide the lis and the learned Labour Court is yet to decide the reference.

Moreover, the impugned order does not cause any prejudice to the petitioner.

(ii) Section 5-C (3)(b) of U.P. Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 confers upon the Labour Court / Industrial Tribunal the same powers as are vested in a

Civil Court under C.P.C. namely requiring the discovery and production of documents and material objects. Thus, it cannot be said that learned Labour

Court acted beyond the scope of its powers.

The ultimate object of any Court or Tribunal is to arrive at the truth and for this purpose, certain powers are conferred upon Labour Courts and

Tribunals under Section 5-C(3) of U.P. Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. U.P. Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 is aimed at preventing strikes and lock outs

and to settle industrial disputes to ensure that industrial peace is maintained. Having regard to the aims and objects of the Act, the Labour Court is

required to ascertain the root cause of any industrial dispute, which has been done in the present case.

At this stage, learned counsel for the petitioner submits that employer had raised two objections in his written statement and had requested that they

be tried as preliminary issue before proceeding any further in the matter. According to learned counsel, two objections which need to be tried as

preliminary issue are as follows:-

(a) Whether 402 employees as alleged by the respondent were workman or not? (b) Whether the respondent union was competent to raise the

industrial dispute with regard to 402 listed employees or not?

Having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case, learned Labour Court is directed to frame issue on the objections raised by the employer

and decide the same before deciding other issues, in terms of Rule 18 of U.P. Industrial Tribunals and Labour Courts Rules of Procedure, 1967, which

is extracted below:-

“18. Issues.- After the written statements and rejoinders (if any), of both the parties are filed and after examination of parties (if any), the

Industrial Tribunal or Labour Court may frame such other issues, if any, as may arise from the pleadings.â€​

Since, the dispute in question was referred to learned Labour Court in the year 2014 and much delay has already been caused, therefore, it is

hoped and expected that learned Labour Court shall decide the same as early as possible, preferably within a period of six months.

With above observations and directions, the writ petition stands disposed of.