IMPORTANT POINT
Appointment – Procedure as prescribed under relevant extant rules has to be followed.

JUDGMENT :

SANJIV KHANNA, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. The appellants, Ram Manohar Lohia Joint Hospital and two others, have filed this appeal taking exception to the order and judgment dated 15.11.2018 whereby Lucknow Bench of the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad has upheld the order dated 20.01.2010 passed by the Labour Court, Lucknow directing reinstatement of the first respondent herein, namely, Munna Prasad Saini along with compensation of Rs. 20,000/- (rupees twenty thousand only) for the period of unemployment and entitlement to full pay from the date of the said order.

3. We have heard counsel for the parties at length and are inclined to partly interfere with the impugned order.

4. The first aspect in the dispute is whether the first respondent workman was an employee of the second respondent, namely, Bombay Intelligence Security (I) Ltd. or an employee of the appellant Hospital.

5. The Presiding Officer, Labour Court, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, in his order dated 20.01.2010, has held that the first respondent was the employee of the appellant and not of the second respondent. In arriving at this conclusion, the Labour Court has relied upon the attendance register/duty chart and the medicine intend book of male ward from September 2003 to June 2005. The Labour Court also records that in spite of direction given to the appellant to produce the attendance register/duty chart for the period, the records were not produced. In addition, the Labour Court has referred to the affidavit filed by the workman, and a copy of the duty chart for April and May, 2005, a copy of the salary payment register of July, 2004 and a copy of joining report and certificate issued by the appellant, all enclosed with the affidavit. Photocopies of these documents were obtained from the appellant by one Suraj Ram under the Right to Information Act, 2005. The Labour Court also took into account the ocular evidence of the first respondent that he had applied for the said post pursuant to newspaper advertisement dated 11.04.2003 and thereafter was appointed as a ward boy in the appellant hospital on a monthly salary of Rs. 2,950/- on 01.09.2003.

6. Learned counsel for the appellant submitted that the first respondent had impleaded the second respondent as respondent No. 3 before the Labour Court, Lucknow and in paragraph 19 of the details of the dispute, had referred to the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970. It is asserted in the said paragraph that the appellant and the second respondent were neither registered under the aforesaid Act nor was the registration certificate issued by the Department of Labour. Our attention was drawn to Annexure P-1 to the present appeal which is a copy of Form No. 6 issued by the Deputy Labour Commissioner, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, whereby a licence was granted under the aforesaid Act to the second respondent. The licence mentions the date of amendment, fee paid for renewal and the date of expiry.

7. We have considered these documents but would not like to interfere with the factual findings recorded by the Labour Court, which has been affirmed by the High Court with respect to the engagement of the first respondent by the appellant hospital. It has been explained to us that the first respondent had impleaded the second respondent as a co-respondent in view of the stand taken by the appellant regarding the first respondent’s engagement through the second respondent, which factum was disputed by the first respondent. No doubt, the appellant has also placed before us Annexure P-4, an agreement dated 01.04.2003 between the appellant and the second respondent for engaging contractual workers, including 12 ward boys/aya/patient helpers, but this contract states that the payment will be made by the appellant to the second respondent every month within one week from the date of receipt of bill, which if required will be rectified to meet valid objections of the appellant. The reason why we would not like to rely upon t