ORDER

1. Leave granted.

2. The relationship of employer and workman between the appellant and the respondent - company was brought to end in terms of a voluntary retirement scheme (in short “VRS”) introduced by the management of the company in September, 2011. The appellant, however, alleged that he was made to take voluntary retirement under duress and, in reality, his removal from service was illegal and unjustified. On those allegations he raised an industrial dispute. The appropriate Government referred the dispute for adjudication before the Labour Court, Gurgaon, vide order dated December 4, 2006. The reference is in the following terms:

“Whether the termination of service of Shri Man Singh on the basis of VRS Scheme by the Management was justified and correct, if not, to what relief is he entitled?”

3. The respondent - company challenged the competence and validity of the reference in a Writ Petition (CWP No.3358/2009) before the Punjab and Haryana High Court. On behalf of the respondent - company, it was contended that having accepted the full monetary benefits under the VRS, it was no longer open to the appellant to question or challenge his termination of service and, in any case, any adjudication on the dispute raised by the appellant should not be allowed to proceed while he retained all the monetary benefits collected by him under the scheme.

4. A learned single Judge of the High Court upheld the respondent’s contention and while disposing of the Writ Petition by judgment and order dated November 23, 2009 made the following directions:-

“To make the scales even, the Labour Court will undertake the adjudication on the reference, if only the workman deposits the amount which he has received into Court with interest from the date when he has received to the date of deposit calculated at 7.5% per annum. If the deposit is not made within 60 days from the date when reference was issued to him, the reference made by the Government shall stand annulled.

The writ petition is disposed of in the above terms.”

5. The appellant challenged the order passed by the single Judge in an intra-court appeal but a Division Bench of the High Court dismissed his appeal [(L.P.A. No.82 of 2010)(O & M)] by a brief order, dated January 21, 2010.

6. The appellant has now brought this matter to this Court. On behalf of the appellant, it is submitted that the High Court in exercise of its writ jurisdiction could not interfere with the reference made by the appropriate Government and the direction to deposit in court the amount received by him under the VRS along with interest at the rate of 7.5% per annum as the condition for the reference to proceed, was quite unreasonable, inequitable and illegal.

7. The submission made on behalf of the appellant is fully answered by an earlier decision of this Court in Ramesh Chandra Sankla and others versus Vikram Cement and others1 (2008) 14 SCC 58. In Ramesh Chandra Sankla a number of workmen of Vikram Cement Company who had ceased to be the employees of Company after accepting full benefits under the scheme of voluntary retirement moved the Labour Court under section 31 of the Madhya Pradesh Industrial Relations Act, 1960 making the same allegations against the Company as the appellant in this case. In that case, the Labour Court declined to decide certain issues framed at the instance of the management as preliminary issues. The management’s appeal against the decision of the Labour Court not to decide those issues as preliminary issues was rejected by the Industrial Court. The writ petition filed by the management was dismissed by a learned single Judge on the ground that the orders passed by the Labour Court and affirmed by the Industrial Court were interlocutory in nature. The management took the matter before the Division Bench which held that the writ petitions filed by the Company were under Article 227 of the Constitution and the single Judge was exercising supervisory jurisdiction; hence, intra