IMPORTANT POINT
The Labour Court cannot entertain applications under Section 2A of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 beyond the three-year limitation period from the date of dismissal, as this limitation is mandatory and jurisdictional.

JUDGMENT :

ANIL KUMAR CHOUDHARY, J.

Heard the parties.

2. This Writ Petition has been filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India inter alia with a prayer for issuance of a Writ of Certiorari or any other appropriate writ/order/direction for quashing and/or setting aside the industrial award dated 10.09.2022, the copy of which has been kept at Annexure-8 of this Writ Petition passed by the learned Presiding Officer, Labour Court, Bokaro in I.D. Case No.01 of 2017 whereby and where under the learned Presiding Officer, Labour Court, Bokaro has directed the petitioner- company to reinstate the applicant-workman (respondent herein) with continuity of service and 30% of total back wages only from the date of his dismissal till his reinstatement overlooking the fact that Section 2 A (3) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 confers jurisdiction upon the industrial adjudicator to entertain only those cases relating to termination of service of an individual workman which has been raised within a period of three years from the date of such termination and not otherwise.

3. The undisputed fact is that the petitioner-company dismissed the respondent from services of the company with effect from 25.02.2013 by its communication dated 20.02.2013, the copy of which has been kept at Annexure-1 of this Writ Petition. The undisputed fact remains that the respondent filed an application invoking the jurisdiction of learned Presiding Officer, Labour Court, Bokaro under Section 2 A (2) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 as amended by the Industrial Dispute (Amendment) Act, 2010 on 12.04.2017. The petitioner who was the opposite party-employer before the Presiding Officer, Labour Court, Bokaro in I.D. Case No.01 of 2017, took a specific plea in paragraph-2 of its written-statement filed before the Labour Court, Bokaro that the application is filed by the applicant who is the respondent of this Writ Petition, is not maintainable; the same having been filed beyond the period of three years from the date of dismissal of the applicant before the Presiding Officer, Labour Court, Bokaro. In the impugned award, the learned Presiding Officer, Labour Court, Bokaro also recorded these pleadings as well as the submission of the Writ Petitioner who was the opposite party before it in paragraph-3 of the impugned award but did not frame any issue in respect of the maintainability of the application being barred by limitation, filed under Section 2 A (2) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 nor dealt with the said pleadings as well as the arguments of the writ petitioner that the application filed by the respondent of this Writ Petition is barred by Section 2 A (3) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

4. Learned counsel for the petitioner relies upon the judgment of a Division Bench of this Court in the case of Jafir Khan vs. General Manager, Jamadoba Colliery, M/s Tata Steel Limited & Another reported in 2020 SCC OnLine Jhar 1773 paragraphs-21 and 22 of which reads as under:-

“21. Sub section 3 of Section 2-A provides that the application referred to in sub-section (2) shall be made to the Labour Court or Tribunal before the expiry of three years from the date of discharge, dismissal, retrenchment or otherwise termination of service as specified in sub-section (1).

22. In the case in hand, the petitioner was separated from service w.e.f. 31.03.2003 but the application was filed after lapse of 12 years and Section 2-A of the Act, 1947, which is for expeditious disposal of the dispute and under sub section 3, it has been provided to file “an application mandatorily within three years before the Labour Court or Tribunal from the date of discharge, dismissal, retrenchment or otherwise termination of service as specified in sub-section (1)” but admittedly the application was filed after lapse of 12 years, in our considered view, in view of specific bar as provided under sub section 3 to Section 2-A, such application was not fit to be entertained by the Labour Co