The Tribunal has the jurisdiction to grant interim relief during the pendency of the reference, and the Tribunal's finding that the domestic enquiry was not fair and proper was justified. The Tribunal has the power to grant interim relief by way of an interim award, and the interim relief granted by the Tribunal was not excessive.

1. - In a reference under Section 10(1) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (for short 'the Act'), the learned Industrial Tribunal, Jaipur (for short 'the Tribunal') has made an interim award dated 14th October, 1986 under which he granted interim relief to the 10 workers who have been dismissed from service by the petitioner and in respect of whom the reference has been made by the Government under Section 10(1) of the Industrial Disputes Act. The learned Tribunal has held the domestic enquiry on the alleged misconduct of the 10 workers to be not in accordance with the principles of natural justice and has held it to be not fair and proper. He, therefore, allowed the employer petitioner herein to prove the misconduct of the workmen.

2. The contention of the learned counsel for the petitioner is that though the Tribunal has the jurisdiction to order for interim relief during the pendency of the reference before it, but no case for granting of interim relief was made out. He further contended that a question was raised before the Tribunal with regard to the competence of Shri Ram Bhai who is said to be the General Secretary of the Union to file an application for interim relief and the learned Tribunal wrongly decided it in favour of the Union. It is further contended that the learned Tribunal should have ordered the payment of interim relief under separate order even if an interim relief order was to be made and not in composite order.

3. The Government of Rajasthan, Labour and Employment Department, under its notification dated 29th October, 1985 made a reference to the Tribunal for adjudication in respect of the justification and legality of the dismissal of workmen mentioned in the reference order. A claim was filed on behalf of Jaipur Syntex Sharmik Ekta Union, Behror (for short 'the Union') which was a party in the dispute and at that relevant time one Shri Lalchand Arya was the General Secretary of the Union. It appears that thereafter some disputes arose as to whether the said Arya continued to be the General Secretary or his place was taken over by Shri Ram Bhai who claims to be duly elected General Secretary of the Union. Shri Bhai filed an application before the learned Tribunal for interim relief and an objection was raised on behalf of the petitioner that the Union of which Ram Bhai is the General Secretary has neither the power nor the authority to file an application on behalf of employees for interim relief. In that objection the contention raised before the Tribunal was that the Union was represented by Shri Lal Chand Arya who does not want to continue with the case. The learned Tribunal took this issue and came to the conclusion that the Union of which Shri Ram Bhai was the General Secretary was one of the parties to the dispute and therefore, it cannot be said that the Union has been replaced or taken over by another union. The Tribunal held that it is not possible to say as to who amongst the two claimants was in feet the General Secretary of the Union. The Tribunal, therefore, held that Shri Ram Bhai as its General Secretary has the power and authority to present the application for interim relief.

4. The Tribunal further held that domestic enquires which were held by the management on the alleged misconduct of 10 workmen was against the principles of natural justice and without holding proper enquiry the orders of dismissal were passed to victimise the workmen. Thus, the Tribunal granted interim relief to each of the workmen during the pendency of the reference before it. The said interim relief was granted from the date of the order of dismissal and not from the date the application for interim relief was filed or from the date the interim award became effective.

5. The learned Tribunal has dealt in detail with the question as to whether the domestic enquiry which was held is proper or not. He examined the case of each and every workman in order to see as to whether the enquiry against each of them