Miri Mal Jain Metal Co. vs The Presiding Officer, Labour Court and Another

Harjit Singh Bedi, J.—Respondent No. 2 Bharat Singh was an employee of the petitioner Company when his services were terminated on 10th February, 1983. Aggrieved against the order aforesaid, Bharat Singh raised an Industrial Dispute which was referred to the Labour Court for adjudication. Vide award Annexure P-l the Labour Court directed that the workman be reinstated with continuity of service and full back wages. Aggrieved by the award of the Labour Court, the petitioner filed Civil Writ Petition No. 7986 of 1987, which was dismissed by this Court in limine. In the aforesaid writ petition a specific point had been raised that Bharat Singh-respondent No. 2 herein was not entitled to the payment of back wages, as he had been gainfully employed during the period when his services stood terminated. Thereafter, the petitioner moved an application before the Labour Court in which the aforementioned prayer was made and evidence was produced to show that respondent No. 2 had, in fact, been gainfully employed. The aforesaid application was dismissed vide Annexure P-4, dated 5th December, 1988, on the ground that in the writ petition no objection was taken with regard to the entitlement of respondent No. 2 to the payment of back wages and, furthermore, that the Presiding Officer had no jurisdiction to re-open the award Annexure P-1.

I have heard learned counsel for the parties and find that this petition cannot succeed.

Section 17A of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (hereinafter referred to as the ''Act'') provides that an award shall become enforceable on the expiry of thirty days from the date of its publication u/s 17 and sub-section (3) of Section 20 stipulates that the proceedings before the Labour Court shall be deemed to have been concluded on the date on which the award becomes enforceable u/s 17A. It will be apparent, therefore, that the Labour Court become functus officio on the expiry of the thirty days from the date of the publication of the award. This has been so held by a Division Bench of this Court in the Waring Co-operative Agricultural Services Society Ltd. v. The State of Punjab and Ors. (1986) 90 P. L.R. 238.

Admittedly, the application Annexure P-2 was made on 10.10.1988, whereas the award had been published in the Gazette on 28-8-1997. The Labour Court was therefore, right in holding in Annexure P-4 that it had no jurisdiction to re-open the matter.

For the reasons recorded above, the present writ petition is dismissed but with no order as to costs.