IMPORTANT POINT
Unfair labour practice - remedy.

JUDGMENT

Dipak Misra, J.:-Leave granted in all the Special Leave Petitions and they are taken up along with Civil Appeal Nos. 2159 and 2160 of 2012. Regard being had to the commonality of the issue involved, all the appeals were heard together and are disposed of by a common judgment.

2. The facts which are essential to be stated for adjudication of the present batch of appeals are that the appellant-company is engaged in manufacturing of two-wheelers and three-wheelers and it has factories at Akurdi (Pune District) and Waluj (Aurangabad District). The respondents, who were engaged as Welders, Fitters, Turners, Mechanics, Grinders, Helpers, etc., initiated an action against the appellant- company under Section 28 of the Maharashtra Recognition of Trade Union and Prevention of Unfair Labour Practices Act, 1971 (for short “the 1971 Act”) before the Industrial Court, Aurangabad, seeking a declaration that there has been unfair labour practices under items 5, 6 and 9 of Schedule IV of the 1971 Act on the foundation that though they were engaged in the year 1990, yet in every year, they were offered employment for seven months each year and after the expiry of the said period, their services used to be terminated and the said practice continued till they filed the complaints in 1997, 1998 and 1999. Seventeen of them also filed a separate complaint in the year 2003 for providing work to them as they were kept outside the factory premises without work. It was alleged that because of this unfair labour practice, none of them could complete 240 days in employment in any corresponding year to make them eligible to earn the status and privilege of permanent employees. It was contended before the Industrial Court that in the year 1996, the employer, in order to improve work culture, used multi-skill and multi-operational system and thereby the employees termed as multi-skill operators were required to undertake various jobs, but the employer, by taking recourse to unfair labour practice, saw to it that their services were terminated immediately after the expiry of seven months. In this backdrop, they were deprived of the status under clause 4-C of the Model Standing Orders as appended to Schedule I-A of the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1945 (for short “the 1945 Act”).

3. The aforesaid stand and stance of the workmen was opposed by the employer contending, inter alia, that the establishment was governed by the Certified Standing Orders dated 10.3.1986 and the said Certified Standing orders did not have a provision like clause 4-C of the Model Standing Orders. It was asserted that the company has employed 4250 permanent employees which is sufficient to meet the requirement of normal production but whenever there was a temporary rise during some period in a year, with the consent of the union, it used to engage employees for the duration which was restricted to few months. The allegation of unfair labour practice under items 5, 6 and 9 of Schedule IV of the 1971 Act was seriously controverted. It was categorically put forth that there was no intention whatsoever to deprive the workmen of their status but the appellant-company, in order to meet its target, had to engage the employees as and when required and, hence, the bald allegation of unfair labour practice was not only totally unwarranted but also uncalled for.

4. To substantiate their respective stands, the employer and the employees adduced evidence and also relied on the evidence produced in complaint ULP No. 192 of 1997. Be it noted, apart from the evidence recorded in complaint ULP No. 192 of 1997, one Mr. Dilip Suryavanshi was examined on behalf of the employer. The Industrial Court took note of the stand of the complainants with regard to the assertion that the employer deliberately adopted rotational system throughout the year as a consequence of which the temporary employees were rotated and not allowed to complete the requisite number of days to have permanency