Transferee employer cannot reopen recorded evidence or recall witnesses as of right after impleadment in industrial adjudication.

A transferee employer impleaded in pending industrial adjudication steps into the transferor's shoes and is bound by proceedings already taken, subject to the transfer terms and governing law. The dispute does not become a fresh proceeding merely because the transferee is added after merger. In the absence of exceptional circumstances, the transferee has no right to reopen evidence or recall the workman and other witnesses for further cross-examination, and refusal to permit this does not by itself breach natural justice. On that basis, the award was not liable to be set aside on the ground of denial of further cross-examination.

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Issues: Whether, on merger and impleadment of the transferee employer in pending industrial adjudication, the transferee could, as of right, reopen the evidence already recorded and recall the workman and other witnesses for further cross-examination.

Analysis: A transferee who takes over the rights and liabilities of the transferor in a pending proceeding steps into the transferor's shoes and is bound by the proceedings already taken, subject to the terms of the transfer and the governing legal provisions. The pending industrial dispute did not become a fresh proceeding against the transferee merely because it was impleaded after the merger. In the absence of any exceptional circumstance, there was no right to reopen the case or recall witnesses already examined, and the refusal to permit further cross-examination did not violate natural justice.

Conclusion: The transferee employer was not entitled to recall the witnesses for further cross-examination as a matter of course, and the award could not be set aside on that ground. The appeal succeeds.

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