1978 Supreme(Guj) 143
Gujarat High Court
Judgename :A.D.DESAI, B.J.DIVAN, S.B.MAJMUDAR
NIZAMUDDIN SULEMAN - Appellant
Versus
NEW SHORROCK SPG.AND MANUFACTURING MILLS COMPANY LIMITED NADIAD - Respondent
S.C.A. 1122 of 1973
Decided On : 11/24/1978
Headnote:
Industrial Disputes Act 1947 – Section 33c (2) - Industrial Disputes (Gujarat) Rules 1966 - Rule 67 (1) - Claim for recovery of his salary or wages - Where any money is due to a workman from an employer settlement or an award or provisions of Chapter V-A workman himself or any other person authorised by him in writing in this behalf or in case of death of workman his assignee or heirs may without prejudice to any other mode of recovery make an application - Division Bench consisting of one of us passed following order of reference to a Full Bench in Special Civil Application - Decisions of Supreme Court which are prima facie not reconcilable and far-reaching effect of point of law involved these two writ petitions are referred to Full Bench - Order of reference then sets out various decisions of Supreme Court and difficulty was felt particularly because of decision of Supreme Court in Central Inland Water Transport Corporation Ltd Workmen - Any workman is entitled to receive from employer any money or any benefit which is capable of being computed in terms of money and if any question arises as to amount of money due or as to amount at which such benefit should be computed then question may subject to any rules that may be made – Held, Labor Court held on preliminary objection that it had no jurisdiction to entertain the application on ground was that applicant had no existing right in so far as closure compensation was concerned - There was no finding so far as petitioner workman was concerned on the issues that were raised and labor Court observed these major issues cannot be decided by this Court because it has got limited jurisdiction under section 33c (2) of Act - These major issues can be decided by way of Reference to Industrial Tribunal as it is beyond jurisdiction of this Court to decide all these industrial major dispute - It is obvious that question whether which workman was urging in his application under section 33c (2) application under sections 33c (2) was maintainable or not has to be decided by the Labor Court - It is after examining evidence on merits that Labor Court could have decided whether there was a closure of factory or not and whether the applicant left the job on his own accord as the employer contended – Order Accordingly
( 1 ) THE Division Bench consisting of one of us (A. D. Desai J) and N. H. Bhatt J. has passed the following order of reference to a Full Bench in Special Civil Application No. 936 of 1975 with Special Civil Application No. 1122 of 1973 :-"in view of the decisions of the Supreme Court which are prima facie not reconcilable and far-reaching effect of the point of law involved these two writ petitions are referred to the Full Bench. The order of reference then sets out the various decisions of the Supreme Court and the difficulty was felt particularly because of the decision of the Supreme Court in Central Inland Water Transport Corporation Ltd. v. Workmen A. I. R. 1974 S. C. 1604 and the decision of the Supreme Court in U. P. Electric Supply Co. Ltd. v. R. K. Shukla A. I. R. 1970 S. C. 237. The main point which is involved to this case is the exact scope of the proceeding before the Labour Court in proceedings under sec. 33c (2) of the Industrial Disputes Act 1947 Sub-sec. (2) of sec. 33c is in these terms :" (2) Where any workman is entitled to receive from the employer any money or any benefit which is capable of being computed in terms of money and if any question arises as to the amount of money due or as to the amount at which such benefit should be computed then the question may subject to any rules that may be made under this Act be decided by such Labour Court as may be specified in this behalf by the appropriate Government". So far as sub-sec. (1) of sec. 33c is concerned it may be pointed out that it provides for recovery of money due from an employer and the provision is"33 (1) Where any money is due to a workman from an employer under a settlement or an award or under the provisions of Chapter V-A the workman himself or any other person authorised by him in writing in this behalf or in the case of the death of the workman his assignee or heirs may without prejudice to any other mode of recovery make an application to the appropriate Government for the recovery of the money due to him and if the appropriate Government is satisfied that any money is so due it shall issue a certificate for that amount to the Collector who shall proceed to recover the same in the same manner as an arrear of land revenue: that every such application shall be made within one year from the date on which the money became due to the workman from the employer:provided further that any such application may be entertained after the expiry of the said period of one year if the appropriate Government is satisfied that the applicant had sufficient cause for not making the application within the said period. Thus in order to appreciate the scope of sec. 33c (2) one must bear in mind that whereas sub-sec. (1) of sec. 33c deals with the case where the money is due to a workman from an employer under a settlement or an award in the form of retrenchment compensation under the provisions of Chapter VA or lay-off compensation under Chapter V-A sub-sec. (2) deals with the recovery by the workman of any money or any benefit which is capable of being computed in terms of money and it empowers the Labour Court concerned to deal with the question arising as to the amouat of money due pr as to the amount at which such benefit should be computed. Industrial Disputes (Gujarat) Rules 1966 were made by the Government of Gujarat in exercise of the powers conferred by sec. 38 of the Industrial Disputes Act 1947 and Rule 67 (1) of these Rules provides that where any is due to a workman from an employer under a settlement of an award or under the provisions of Chapter V-A the application has to be made in Form XX-A for recovery of the money due to him and where any workman is entitled to receive from the employer any benefit which is capable of being computed in terms of money the workman concerned has to apply to the specified Labour Court in Form XX-B for the determination of the amount at which such benefit should be comp