TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2004 (8) TMI 762
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....his reinstatement with full back wages and continuity of service. The appellant management in the said reference filed a written statement contending that there was no relationship of employee and employer between the 1st respondent herein and the appellant from 12th of May, 1993. Since on the said date the workman voluntarily discontinued his services with the appellant after receiving all his dues in full and final settlement. Certain other preliminary objections, like maintainability of the reference on the ground that the 1st respondent was holding a supervisory post hence an industrial dispute was not maintainable, were also raised. The workman filed his rejoinder to the said written statement Based on the pleadings before it the Labour Court framed the following issues :- 1) Whether relationship of master and servant existed between the parties on the alleged date of termination ? 2) Whether the reference is not maintainable, as alleged ? 3) Whether the claimant is not a 'Workman as defined under the Industrial Act? 4) Whether termination of the services of the workman is justified and in order? The Labour Court by its award dated....
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....993 marked by the Labour Court as M/X (M3). He also submitted that the said factum of his voluntary retirement and his receipt of dues in full and final settlement is established beyond reasonable doubt from the oral evidence led by the management, as also by documentary evidence produced by way of the payment receipt as well as the bonus register Ex. M/X. He pointed out from the judgment of the Labour Court that the only ground on which the documentary evidence, especially, that of the receipt M/X (M3) was rejected by the courts below was on the ground that the same was not confronted to the workman when he was in the witness box, therefore, they held since the workman did not have an opportunity of either accepting or denying the contents and the signature of the said document, the courts below rejected the said evidence adduced on behalf of the appellant which according to the learned counsel is erroneous because strict rules of evidence are not applicable to a proceedings before the Labour Court. He endeavoured to submit that the workman had sufficient opportunity of cross examining the management witness and could have established the fact that the receipt relied upon by th....
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....nts came into existence simultaneously the ink with which the respondent workman is supposed to have signed the two documents was different. In such circumstances, it held that it was not safe to rely upon the said document to accept the case of the appellant. The High Court in this regard held though it may not be necessary to apply the strict rule of evidence in regard to production and proof of a document still the workman ought to have been provided with an opportunity to explain his version as to the alleged receipt having been executed by him and such opportunity not having been offered by confronting the document to the workman the appellant in effect has violated the principles of natural justice and hence by its act of default the workman's case can not be prejudiced. However, as stated above Shri U.U. Lalit, learned senior counsel contended that the workman was aware of the contents of the document because he had the photocopy of the document served on him, based on which he had cross examined the management witness. He further contended that since the workman had been unable to establish through his cross examination of the management witness that the receipt in q....
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....ectricity Board vs. Jarina Bee (SMT) 2003 (6) SCC 141 . In this regard, we notice that the Labour Court awarded only 25% of the back wages primarily relying on a judgment of the Punjab & Haryana High Court in the case of M.K. Kholi vs. Afadeal Chemicals, Faridabad and Anr. 1997 (2) LLN 299, the High Court in its judgment has noticed the fact that the said judgment was reversed by a Division Bench of the very same court in a subsequent judgment delivered in civil writ petition No. 8665 of 2000, in the matter of State of Haryana vs. Ram Kumar and Anr., hence it found that the reliance placed by the Labour Court on the above said judgment of M.K. Kholi vs. Afadeal Chemicals, Faridabad and Anr. was not sustainable. Reliance placed by the learned counsel for the appellant in the case of P.G.I. of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh (supra), in our opinion, does not take the case of the appellant any further. In that case, this Court held that the Labour Court being the final court of facts the superior courts do not normally interfere with such finding of facts unless the said finding of fact is perverse or erroneous or not in accordance with law. In the instant case, we have....