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1999 Supreme(Bom) 966

IN THE HIGH COURT OF BOMBAY
R.J. Kochar, J.
Shri Sonaba Baburao Dalvi..... Petitioner.
Versus
Factory Manager others..... Respondents.
Writ Petition No. 1856 of 1992, decided on 16-12-1999.
Advocates appeared :
S.B. Deshmukh Sr.C. with N.M. Ganguli, for petitioner.
Smt. M.H. Doshi, for respondent No. 1.

Headnote:Schedule II, Item 6-Domestic enquiry-Charge-Low production deliberately-Petitioner not able to meet the charge-Petitioner did not co-operate with enquiry officer-Allegations conveyed to petitioner-To specific reply given by petitioner to charge-sheet-Enquiry was fair Findings not perverse-Petition dismissed.- That the enquiry officer was not a legally trained person and was only an officer from the department employed by the company. It appears from the body of the enquiry that he carried out his job of finding the truth in the allegation in a broad matter after hearing both the sides. The petitioner was present in the enquiry and the witnesses examined by the company were also from his department. The witnesses made their statements in respect of the production given by other and the production given by the petitioner, The petitioner did not cross- examine those witnesses and he refused to sign the proceedings also. On the basis of the said evidence the enquiry officer had recorded his findings. The enquiry officer has come to his conclusions drawn from the material on record. The Enquiry Officers fi11dings are not in any way learned judgment and that is not to be considered from that angle. He has based his findings on the material of the companys witnesses who were not cross-examined and also the statement of production produced by them which was shown to the petitioner in the enquiry. In the circumstances, I do not find any illegality or perversity in the domestic enquiry held by the respondent company against the petitioner and I do not find any perversity in the findings of the enquiry officer. Though however, much better should have been and could have been performed by the respondent company.

       I have con1e to my own conclusion that the enquiry was fair and proper and that the findings were not perverse. Though I cannot interfere with the orders of the Labour Court and the Labour Court ought to have recorded good reasons and better findings though conclusions drawn by it are correct. I, therefore, do not find any infirmity with the conclusion of the labour Court to dismiss the application filed by the petitioner. Similarly the judgment and order of the Industrial Court also cannot be found fault with. The Industrial Court has also gone into the merits of the case and has also examined the question of fairness and

       propriety of the domestic enquiry and also the question of punishn1ent. If from the evidence and n1aterial on record in the enquiry which is confirn1ed as fair and proper the only conclusion which can be drawn is that the production given by the petitioner was lower than the production given by the others and it was less than 8500 ends. It cannot be said that there was absolutely no material to show that the production given by the petitioner was lower than the production given by the others. The petitioner has not denied or refuted the ligules of production produced by the respondent company before the enquiry officer. The net result which we have to see is the figures of low production on the record of the enquiry. I, therefore, hold that the respondent company was justified in dismissing the petitioner from employment on that ground though the manner in which it was done was not satisfactory.

JUDGMENT -R.J. KOCHAR, J.:---The petitioner has challenged in this petition under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India the concurrent findings recorded by the Labour Court, Pune and the Industrial Court, Maharashtra at Pune. The facts which gave rise to the present dispute are as follows:

2.The petitioner was working as a permanent Drawer in the Drawing-in Department of the respondent Mills. He had put in about 20 years service in the Mills. He was served with a show cause notice dated 26-12-1978, the gist of which is that the petitioner had not given the usual production as decided by the company. While others in his shift were giving 8500 ends production, it was alleged that the petitioner was deliberately giving low production by doing work slowly. The said show cause notice also contained his past misconduct and that inspite of legal action against him he had not improved. The show cause notice contained a chart of production given by him from 4-12-1978 to 22-12-1978. The petitioner submitted his written explanation by his letter dated 1-1-1979 denying charge of low production given in the statement. In the written explanation he also made a counter allegation that by issuing such show cause notice of wilfully giving low production the respondent was pressurising him. He also further threatened in the said written explanation that their act of issuance of such show cause notice during the pendency of his application BIR/LCP No. 32 of 1978 would attract criminal proceedings. He finally requested the management to withdraw the show cause notice. After receipt of the aforesaid written explanation the respondent company held a domestic enquiry wherein statements of three witnesses and the petitioner were recorded by the Enquiry Officer. The petitioner refused to cross examine the company's witnesses and also refused to sign the proceedings. To a question put by the Enquiry Officer he agreed that the statement on the back of the show cause notice was showing his production. He however, said that he could not say why the production was less. He also expressed that he was not able to say why and how his co-workers gave production of 8500 ends. His written explanation and also his statement before the Enquiry Officer are far from satisfactory. It appears that the Union which was assisting him had in fact not helped him properly. It appears that the petitioner had approached the union for help in this regard but the union did not do justice to him. In the enquiry he was not represented by the union representative nor he was guided to cross examine the company's witnesses. If the union had prepared his written explanation with some responsibility that would have perhaps helped him a lot in this matter. A written explanation of a workman to the charge sheet is the foundation of his case. Unfortunately however more often the written explanations drafted are cryptic and are far from satisfactory. Very often irrelevant and immaterial statements are made in the written explanation and uncalled for allegations are in the written explanations. In the present case also the written explanation is very cryptic and there is no specific reply to the charge at all. The threat of criminal proceedings was also not called for. Before the Enquiry Officer the petitioner was not able to meet the charge of low production. The witnesses examined on behalf of the company have stated that the Drawer working in the Drawing-in-Department had to give 8500 ends during eight hours and they did so accordingly. The witnesses further have given evidence that the other Drawers were giving production to the tune of 8200 to 8300 ends. One of the witnesses had further to say that the standard production in the Drawing-in-Department was 8500 ends and that the petitioner did not give the same production inspite of telling him repeatedly. The petitioner's case in the enquiry throughout has been that he was not able to say why he had given less production.








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