Implied suspension without wages and incidental interim relief in industrial adjudication are both recognised, subject to fairness limits.

Where a proper domestic enquiry has ended in a decision to dismiss, a statutory bar on immediate dismissal pending permission can justify an implied power to suspend the workman without wages until the permission proceedings conclude; if permission is later refused, the suspension is wrongful and back wages follow. Industrial adjudication may also grant interim relief on matters incidental to a reference without an express reference, but such relief must be fair and proportionate and may be scaled down if excessive.

---

---

Issues: (i) Whether, where an employer has completed an enquiry and seeks permission under section 33 of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 to dismiss workmen, the workmen can be suspended without wages pending the decision on permission; (ii) whether an Industrial Tribunal can grant interim relief in respect of matters incidental to the reference, and whether such relief must necessarily be embodied in an award published under the Act.

Issue (i): Whether, where an employer has completed an enquiry and seeks permission under section 33 of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 to dismiss workmen, the workmen can be suspended without wages pending the decision on permission.

Analysis: The ordinary law of master and servant does not imply a power to suspend without pay unless such power exists by express contract or statute. But section 33 introduces a statutory restraint on immediate dismissal in industrial disputes, and the Industrial Tribunal is not confined to the strict common law of contract. In the special circumstances created by that statutory bar, it is reasonable to imply a term that, after a proper enquiry and a decision to dismiss, the employer may suspend the workman pending permission under section 33, with the result that the obligation to work and the obligation to pay wages are temporarily suspended. If permission is granted, no wages are payable from the date of suspension; if permission is refused, the suspension is wrongful and back wages follow.

Conclusion: Yes. A workman may be validly suspended without wages pending permission under section 33 after a proper enquiry and decision to dismiss, and the implied term operates against the appellants on that issue only in the event permission is refused.

Issue (ii): Whether an Industrial Tribunal can grant interim relief in respect of matters incidental to the reference, and whether such relief must necessarily be embodied in an award published under the Act.

Analysis: Section 10(4) allows the Tribunal to deal with matters incidental to the points referred, and interim relief may be granted as incidental to the main dispute without express reference. Although a determination of the kind made by the Tribunal may raise the question whether it is an award requiring publication, that technical point does not prevent the Court itself from moulding suitable interim relief. The proper interim relief must be fair and proportionate, not the whole relief that may ultimately be awarded, and the Court adjusted the relief accordingly.

Conclusion: Yes, interim relief could be granted as incidental to the reference; however, the original interim order was modified and reduced.

Final Conclusion: The appeals succeeded only in part, because the Court upheld the employer's power to suspend pending permission under section 33 while also recognising the Tribunal's power to grant interim relief, but it scaled down the relief originally granted.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statute bars immediate dismissal pending permission, a proper enquiry followed by a decision to dismiss permits an implied contractual power of suspension without wages until the statutory permission proceedings are concluded.

---