TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1952 (7) TMI 21
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....ion officer on 9-4-1951. Pending these proceedings, 14 workmen were retrenched on 28-4-1951, and the services of 14 others were dispensed with on 2-5-1951. Government referred the dispute consequent upon the aforesaid events to the industrial tribunal, Trivandrum, and that proceeding has- been numbered as 7/1951 before the tribunal. Pending those two proceedings, there was a meeting of the corporation, and the employees represented by the South Travancore Electrical Workers Union in the presence of the Chief Minister, the Minister for Labour, the Chief Engineer, Electricity, the Assistant Secretary to Government and the assistant labour commissioner on 9-6-1951. At that meeting an. agreement was arrived at. A copy of the proceedings of that meeting is marked exhibit A in industrial dispute No. 13/51 in which the interim award challenged by this petition was passed. The following are the four matters agreed to at that meeting:- (1) It was agreed that the total number of workers required for the efficient working of the Nagercoil Electric Supply Corporation be decided by the Chief Engineer (Electricity). The number of people required in the various sections of the corporatio....
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....have had long service while he has retained persons with comparatively short periods of service. At the time of retrenchment no proper explanation has been given for retrenching persons with long service, and therefore the grievances of the strikers appear to be genuine as far as this aspect is concerned. This is a matter for the Labour Commissioner to go into and he may be given instructions to take suitable action. Though the tribunal had not read this report, the respondents to this petition of whom the first is the industrial tribunal, Trivandrum, and the second, the aforesaid union representing the workmen in the corporation, made written requests before me that I might read and utilize this report for purposes of this petition. 3. On 14-8-1951 a reference was made by Government to the industrial tribunal, Trivandrum, as under:- Whereas an industrial dispute has arisen between the management of the Nagercoil Electric Supply Corporation, Nagercoil, and the workers of the above concern represented by the South Travancore Electrical Workers' Union, Nagercoil, in respect of the matters mentioned in the annexure to this order; And whereas in the opinion ....
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....ge the conditions of service of the workers to their prejudice. (b) In pursuance of the demand, the conciliation officer constituted under the Industrial Disputes Act XIV of 1947 commenced conciliation proceedings to settle the dispute on 9-4-1951. The management evaded taking part in the proceedings while at the same time the management discharged the workers and dismissed another 14 workers by order dated 28-4-1951 and 2-5-1951 respectively. (c) As there was no settlement arrived at in the conference, Government referred the dispute to this tribunal by order dated 8-5-1951, The case is still pending in industrial dispute case No. 7 of 1951 before this tribunal. (d) The discharge of the 14 workers on 28-4-1951 and the dismissal of another 14 workers on 2-5-1951 is clearly illegal and void as being contrary to Section Industrial Disputes of the Industrial Disputes Act XIV of 1950. (e) Further the management and the union have come to a settlement on 9-6-1951 in the course of the conciliation proceedings commenced by the Chief Minister Clause 3 of which is as follows: Till retrenchment, if found necessary, is given effect to, the 14 worke....
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....nal has written a very elaborate order referring to the history of the dispute between the parties, the various stages through which the dispute developed and concluded by recording its' decision in paragraph 8 as follows:- I hold that the management has to pay the wages with arrears to the twenty eight workers who are either retrenched or dismissed and have to find issue No. 3 in favour of the union. It is admitted by both sides that the management has paid a portion of the arrears of wages to the workers. The management will pay to the twenty eight workers the wages remaining unpaid and continue to pay it till retrenchment, if found necessary, is given effect to. Besides pressing for the grant of interim relief, a prayer for prosecuting the corporation for not implementing the agreement arrived at on 9-6-1951 was also made by the union on behalf of labour. The tribunal took a sympathetic view of the matter and concluded paragraph 9 by the following sentence : Taking an equitable and lenient view of the whole matter, I do not find there is a case for prosecution of the management. The interim award concludes by the tenth and last paragraph thus:- ....
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.... as regards the coming into operation of awards under Section 15, as under Section 17-A an award shall become enforceable only on the expiry of thirty days from the date of its publication in the Gazette. The fixation of the period of seven days from the date of publication for its coming into force, it is contended, is an inseparable part of the award and therefore the fixation of time being ultra vires, the entire award is vitiated. 7. The scope of the jurisdiction of the industrial tribunal is the scope of the reference made by Government under Section 10, except, in respect of the matters mentioned in Section 33 of the Act which have reference to supervening events which could be dealt with as if it were a dispute referred to and pending before the tribunal in accordance with the provisions of the Act. Interim relief as the term indicates is in aid of the final relief ultimately to be granted and the power to grant interim relief is inherent in and incidental to the power to grant the final relief. Except in aid of a final relief which could be granted, no interim relief can be thought of or given, The annexure to the reference made to the tribunal which delimited the scope ....
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.... any rate, except in respect of its implementation by identifying the individuals to be retrenched. As already stated, the question whether retrenchment is or is not necessary is beyond the scope of the reference and therefore beyond the scope of the jurisdiction of the tribunal to whom the reference was made. The conclusion reached by the tribunal in paragraph 8 of the award that is assailed in this proceeding, which has already been read, proceeds on the basis that the question whether retrenchment is necessary or not is yet to be found or decided. This is clear from the last sentence of that paragraph which may again be read: The management will pay to the twenty-eight workers the wages remaining unpaid and continue to pay it till retrenchment, if found necessary, is given effect to. The tribunal does not appear to have been aware of the fact that the Chief Engineer did find retrenchment necessary and that point No. 1 referred to him for adjudication pro-coeds on the basis of the existence of the necessity for retrenchment which had been made. The remaining question was merely who are the individual workers that are to cease to be in service on account of that proces....
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....time a conciliation officer appointed by Government under the provisions of the Act but whether he was there in his capacity as conciliation officer or not does not appear. Learned Counsel for the second respondent contends that as the contrary does not appear, it must be deemed that he was there as conciliation officer because he was conciliation officer also then. It is contended that the presence of the other persons including the Chief Minister will not render it any the less a conciliation proceeding before a conciliation officer. The importance of the question whether the proceedings on 9-6-1951 were conciliation proceedings or not is this. If there were proceedings of conciliation as provided for by the Act, then the settlement arrived at would be binding on the parties as such an award passed by a tribunal and any infringement or violation of that settlement would expose the transgressor to the penalties provided by the Act besides enabling the claimant to have the remedies enforced specifically. Section 29 of the Act provides that If any person commits a breach of any term of any settlement or award which is binding on him under this Act, he shall on his first convictio....
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....ons of the Act. The assistant labour commissioner does not appear to have sent a report to Government as required by Clause 3 of Section 12 of the Act in respect of the proceedings dated 9-6-1951. The argument by learned Counsel for the second respondent that, in the absence of anything to the contrary, it must be taken that such a report must have been sent is based on the assumption that the proceedings dated 9-6-1951 were conciliation proceedings as contemplated by the Act; that was the case presented before the tribunal; it was that case that was accepted by the tribunal and it is that that is made the basis of the award impeached in this proceeding. A settlement come to in the course of conciliation proceedings is binding and enforceable under the provisions of the Act. Not so an agreement come to between the employer and the workmen otherwise than in the course of a conciliation proceeding. Such an agreement may be binding but, for its enforcement, resort must be had to the ordinary civil court and not to the machinery provided by the Industrial Disputes Act. Such an agreement cannot form the foundation of the grant of an interim relief by a tribunal, nor has it been made the....
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....t No. 3 of the points referred for adjudication to the tribunal by Government to be the same as point No. 3 in the points of agreement reached at the conference on 9-6-1951. One thing is clear that it was on the basis of this alleged identity of the two points, and further on the basis that point No. 3 of the agreement recorded on 9-6-1951 is one of the points arising for decision by the tribunal ultimately that the interim award is passed. In my judgment there does not exist any room for any controversy in this matter as it appears to be obvious that it is on the basis of the existence of a necessity for retrenchment as found by the Chief Engineer that the reference was made by Government to the tribunal. The question whether such a necessity does or does not exist is absolutely .foreign to the scope of the proceeding before the tribunal. Point No. 3 of the agreement dated 9-6-1951 which refers to this question as one pending determination is therefore clearly not one arising for decision before the tribunal. The tribunal being thus on a misapprehension as to the points that arose before it for decision and that misapprehension appearing on the face of the order, there is an error....