The main legal point established in the judgment is that the Authorities under the Payment of Wages Act had jurisdiction to decide the question of payment of wages, despite the provisions of S.69 and 100 of the Co-operative Societies Act.

1. This Civil Revision Petition is filed against the judgment of the District Judge, Ernakulam in A. S. No. 78 of 1979, in his capacity as the Appellate Authority under the Payment of Wages Act. That appeal was filed by the present petitioner against the order in P.W.A. No. 58 of 1976 of the Labour Court, Quilon which is the Authority under the Payment of Wages Act 58 of 1976.

2. The respondent was the Secretary of the petitioner-Society. She was kept out of employment for a period from 24-11-1975 to 31-8-1976 without payment of salary. She filed P.W.A. No. 58 of 1976 under the Payment of Wages Act, claiming an amount of Rs. 2,177.50 as unpaid wages. The Authority allowed the application to the extent of Rs. 1,526.50 over-ruling the objection of the petitioner-Society on a point of jurisdiction that the dispute should have been referred to and could be decided only by the Registrar of Co-operative Societies under S.69 of the Kerala Co-operative Societies Act. The Authority also found that the petitioner-society bad no right to deny wages to the respondent employee. It was against that order that the petitioner filed A.S. No. 78 of 1979 under S.17(a) of the Payment of Wages Act. Narendran J., who heard the matter, felt that the question whether the jurisdiction of the Authority under the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 was ousted by the provisions of the Kerala Co-operative Societies Act, 1969 required a decision by a Bench of this court.

3. The relevant statutory provisions on which considerable reliance was placed by the petitioner are S.69 and 100 of the Kerala Co-operative Societies Act. The relevant provision of S.69 reads as follows:

"Notwithstanding anything contained in any taw for the time being in force, if a dispute arises -

(c) between the society or its committee and any past committee, any officer, agent or employee, or any past officer, past agent or past employee, or the nominee, heirs or legal representatives of any deceased officer, deceased agent or deceased employee of the society; or such dispute shall be referred to the Registrar for decision, and no court shall have jurisdiction to entertain any suit or other proceeding in respect of such dispute "

A dispute is defined in S.2(1) of the Act as meaning:

"any matter touching the business, constitution, establishments or management of a society capable of being the subject of litigation and includes a claim in respect of any sum payable to or by a society, whether such claim be admitted or not."

Evidently, the dispute relating to payment of wages may, perhaps, be a dispute as defined in the Act. S.100 of the Act, imposes a bar of jurisdiction of courts and provides:

"No civil or revenue court shall have any jurisdiction in respect of any matter for which provision is made in this Act."

The effect of this bar is to deprive any civil or revenue court of jurisdiction in respect of any matter for which provision is made in the Act. Obviously, a civil or revenue court will have no jurisdiction to entertain and decide a dispute as defined in the Act and which has to be referred to the Registrar under S.69 or the Act.

4. It is not seriously contended before us that the Authority under the Payment of Wages Act is a civil or revenue court. If it is not one such, the bar under S.100 will not be operative. A provision similar to S.69 of the Act has been understood to deny jurisdiction only to civil courts and in respect of matters which are capable of being determined by civil courts.

5. With the enactment of the Payment of Wages Act and the constitution of Authorities thereunder, the dispute relating to unpaid or delayed wages are to be determined by the Authority under the Act and not by ordinary civil court. S.22 of the Payment of Wages Act provides that:

"No Court shall entertain any suit for the recovery of wages or of any deduction from wages in so far as the sum so claimed -

(a) forms the subject of an application under S.15 which has been presented by the plaintiff an