IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD CIVIL APPLICATION (FOR DIRECTION) NO. 1 of 2024 In R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 2323 of 2023 FOR APPROVAL AND SIGNATURE:

HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE HEMANT M. PRACHCHHAK ================================================================

Approved for Reporting Yes No ================================================================

RAMESHBHAI MASRIBHAI VALA Versus THE MEDICAL HEALTH OFFICER ALLOPATHY DISPENSARY & ANR.

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Appearance:

MR SAMIR B GOHIL(5718) for the PETITIONER(s) No. 1 MS KIRAN D PANDEY(3337) for the RESPONDENT(s) No. 1,2 ================================================================

CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE HEMANT M.

PRACHCHHAK Date : 02/03/2026 IA JUDGMENT

1. Rule returnable forthwith. Learned counsel Ms. Kiran Pandey, waives service of notice of Rule, for and on behalf of the respondents. 2. Present application is filed by the applicant – original respondent under Section 17B of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (hereinafter be referred to as “the Act”) seeking following reliefs :

“A) To direct the opponents to pay last drawn wages to the applicant from the date of filing Special Civil Application Application No. 2323 of 2023.

B) To grant such other and further relief as may be deemed fit and proper.”

3. Heard Mr. Samir Gohil, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner and Ms. Kiran Pandey, learned counsel appearing for the respondents.

4. Learned counsel for the applicant has submitted that the applicant joined service as daily wager sweeper under the opponent on 01.01.1998, however, his services came to be terminated from 30.06.2015 without following due process of law. He has submitted that the applicant has been unemployed since the date of award i.e. 31.01.2022 and the main matter has been pending for long time at admission stage and therefore, the applicant has filed this application for last drawn wages under section 17B of the Act as the applicant is not employed in any establishment after the award of the Labour Court. In support of his submissions, learned counsel for the applicant has referred to and relied upon the division of this Court rendered in case of Solaries Chemtech Industries Limited vs. Musa Sakur Sama, reported in 2018 LabIC 862

5. Per contra, learned counsel for the respondent has objected this application and submitted that the present civil application be dismissed as the applicant-workman is already working as daily wager for his livelihood.

6. I have heard the learned counsel appearing for the respective parties and perused the material placed on record. I have also considered the affidavit-in-reply filed by the respondents at page-10 of the compilation, wherein, it is stated in para-4 that the applicant- workman after passing of the award is earning his livelihood by selling clothes and nothing further has been stated by the respondents. The issue involved in the present application pertains to the amount to be paid under the provisions of Section 17B of the Act during the pendency of the main petition. At this juncture, it would be appropriate to refer to the provisions of Section 17B, which is reproduced hereunder :

17B. Payment of full wages to workman pending proceedings in higher courts.--Where in any case, a Labour Court, Tribunal or National Tribunal by its award directs reinstatement of any workman and the employer prefers any proceedings against such award in a High Court or the Supreme Court, the employer shall be liable to pay such workman, during the period of pendency of such proceedings in the High Court or the Supreme Court, full wages last drawn by him, inclusive of any maintenance allowance admissible to him under any rule if the workman had not been employed in any establishment during such period and an affidavit by such workman had been filed to that effect in such Court:

Provided that where it is proved to the satisfaction of the High Court or the Supreme Court that such