The main legal point established in the judgment is that the Labour Court has the jurisdiction to award benefits to the legal heirs of deceased employees under Section 33C(2) of the Industrial Disputes Act, and that the termination of employees must be justified by acceptable evidence.

JUDGMENT :

Chandrasekhara Menon, J.—Certain interesting questions in Industrial law have arisen for consideration in this writ petition.

2. The management of a Joint Stock Company which has got its registered office in Madhya Pradesh, but which has got a Rayon Grade Pulp Plant and Paper Mill in Mavoor in Kazhikode District of Kerala State, challenges in this petition the legality and validity of the award of the Labour Court, Kozhikode in Industrial Dispute No. 12 of 1976 before that Court. The dispute which was between the petitioner and their workmen represented by the Gwalior Rayon Pulp Factory Employees' Union, Mavoor was referred to the Labour Court by the Government of Kerala as per their proceedings dated 9-10-1967. The dispute referred was as regards the termination of services of six employees of the company-1. Kannan Menon, 2. Kunhiraman, 3. Viswanathan Nair, 4. Ramachandran Nair, 5. Man Singh and 6. Kunhiraman Nambiar.

3. The petitioner-company had acquired with the previous permission of the Government 30,000 acres of private forests, for the purpose of meeting the raw material requirements of the Rayon Grade Pulp Factory. In granting permission for such acquisition, one of the conditions imposed by the Government was that the forests were to be developed into an eucalyptus plantation in accordance with a time-bound programme which was scheduled to the approved working plan. The petitioner had organised its labour force for the protection of its acquired forest area from poachers and smugglers and also for plantation of eucalyptus trees in different areas after clear felling the areas. A field office, for this purpose was established at Nilambur under the control of an officer designated as Chief Administrative Officer, Amongst the employees appointed in consequence, one Sri M. Kannan Menon was one of the Assistant Protection Officers, Sri P. Kunhiraman and Sri M. K. Viswanathan Nair were Assistant Supervisors (Protection) and M/s. P. Ramachandran, Man Singh and P. Kunhiraman Nambiar were watchmen. Their duty was to protect an area called "Kootil Para" from smugglers and poachers and to detect any illicit fellings in the said area. They had to submit weekly diaries of their activities in discharge of their duty.

4. The termination of services of these employees (the persons who are named above) on 15-4-1967 had given rise to the Industrial Dispute. According to the petitioner it is the gross negligence of these employees that resulted in 102 valuable logs of timber of various species being illicitly cut from the areas concerned. These included most valuable species of rosewood. These logs were detected as stacked by the side of the lorry-track to be removed beyond the limits of the forest.

5. The Factory Employees' Union sponsored the case of termination of the employment of these six individuals as an Industrial Dispute which was referred for adjudication by the Government. The Labour Court, Kozhikode, before which the matter came up for adjudication after taking evidence in the matter and hearing the counsel on both sides set aside the action taken by the Management in terminating the services of the six persons. Before the award was passed the plantation area had been taken over by the Government and consequently all the officers of the company who were serving in the area were given the amounts due to them and were sent out as per a settlement between the management and the employees in the plantation area. This settlement had been produced before the Labour Court. In the light of this settlement the Labour Court said that the persons whose services were terminated cannot be reinstated but directed that these persons will be given their full back-wages and other benefits as well as also the benefits which employees in equivalent or similar positions got as per the settlement. Two of the dismissed employees had died before the award-Sri M. Kannan Menon and Man Singh. As regards the Labour Court stated that if they di