JUDGMENT :

Chinnappa Reddi, J.—The petitioner the proprietor of Dawood Watch Company, Hyderabad. Respondent 2, an employee of his shop, filed an application u/s 33C(2) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, before the presiding officer of the labour court, Hyderabad, for payment of wages from 12 March 1963 to 12 May 1965, and for payment of gratuity. The petitioner filed his objection stating that the presiding officer of the labour court had no jurisdiction to entertain the claim and that the petition was also barred because of an earlier petition filed before the Payment of Wages Authority which had been dismissed by that authority. The application was adjourned from to time and was posted to 6 April 1967, for enquiry. Meanwhile the petitioner had gone abroad and his son who had been instructed by the petitioner to attend the labour court went to the labour court on 6 April 1967, but he was a few minutes late with the result that the presiding officer, labour court passed an order in the following terms:

Respondent called--Absent--Set exparte--Petitioner's representative present--Petition allowed as prayed for with costs.

On the same day, the petitioner's son requited the publishing