Heard Shri M.C. Pant, the learned counsel for the petitioner and Shri Pankaj Purohit, the learned counsel for the respondent No. 2.

2. The petitioner is the workman and has challenged the validity and legality of the award of the Labour Court by which the order of termination of his services was upheld by the Labour Court. The brief facts leading to the filing of the writ petition is, that the petitioner was appointed as the Secretary in the Co-operative Society of opposite party No. 2 w.e.f. 3rd February, 1996. On account of serious charges of mis-appropriation of the funds of the Co-operative Society, the petitioner was chargesheeted by an order dated 18.08.1998. An inquiry was held and, thereafter, the petitioner’s services was terminated by an order dated 10th September, 1998. The petitioner, being aggrieved by the said order, raised an industrial dispute which was eventually referred for adjudication before the Labour Court. The terms of the reference order was :-

“Whether the employers were justified in terminating the services of the petitioner w.e.f. 10th September, 1998? If not, to what relief was the workman entitled to?

3. Before the Labour Court, parties filed