Madan Pal Singh v. State of U.P., (SC) BS7369
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

Before:- S. Saghir Ahmad and D.P. Wadhwa, JJ.

Civil Appeal No. 40 of 2000 (Arising out of SLP(Civil) No. 2435 of 1999). D/d. 6.1.2000

Madan Pal Singh - Appellant

Versus

State of U.P. - Respondents

For the Appellant :- Mr. R.G. Srivastava and Mr. Balraj Dewan, Advocates.

For the Respondents :- Mr. P.K. Yadav, Advocate for Mr. Ravindra Kumar, Mr. S.N. Bhat and Mr. N.P.S. Pawar, Advocates.

Industrial Disputes Act, Section 10 - Reference - Correction of reference - Name of the workman wrongly mentioned in the reference but no doubt about his identity - Labour Court itself can seek correction of reference from the State Government - If the workman has moved the Government for correction, the Labour Court must wait - As and when the corrected/amended reference comes, the Labour Court will have the jurisdiction to adjudicate upon the dispute.

[Para 13]

JUDGMENT

D.P. Wadhwa, J. - Leave granted.

Appellant Madan Pal Singh is aggrieved by judgment dated October 7, 1998 of the Allahabad High Court dismissing his writ petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution. In the writ petition he had challenged the Award dated January 31, 1992 of the Labour Court, Ghaziabad holding that there is no industrial dispute between him and the New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (NOIDA) Ghaziabad.

By order dated September 16, 1988 State of U.P. referred the following question for adjudication by the Labour Court :-

Labour Court, it appears after recording all the evidence came to the conclusion that the management, i.e. NOIDA never employed Madan Lal; nor his services were terminated; and that there was thus no question of terminating the services of Madan Lal. It, therefore, held that Madan Lal was not entitled to any relief in the case. This mistake happened because in the reference order the name of the appellant Madan Pal Singh was mentioned as Madan Lal. The employer said that it had no employee by the name Madan Lal working with it whose service could be alleged to have been terminated. Based on this plea the Labour Court gave the Award and denied any relief to the appellant Madan Pal Singh.

5. Facts which appear from the impugned judgment of the High Court may be stated briefly.

Madan Pal Singh was employed as work agent by NOIDA on a day-to-day basis and was being paid Rs. 16/- per day as wages. He worked during the period from July 1, 1982 to August 7, 1986. After August 7, 1986 Madan Pal Singh was not given any employment. He approached the Conciliation Officer, Ghaziabad. In his application before the Conciliation Officer he committed mistake and mentioned his name as Madan Lal instead of Madan Pal Singh. He applied to the Conciliation Officer on March 9, 1987 to correct his name. The mistake was, however, not rectified and by order dated September 16, 1986 State of U.P. referred the dispute for adjudication to the Labour Court. The mistake in the name continued and, as noted above, in the reference order name of the workman was mentioned as Madan Lal and not Madan Pal Singh. Parties filed their written statements before the Labour Court and led evidence.

6. If we now refer to the Award dated January 31, 1992 it will be seen that application before the Conciliation Officer was filed by the appellant on May 20, 1986. The appellant had demanded for regularisation of his services. His services were terminated on July 8, 1986. He demanded from his employer, the NOIDA, on October 3, 1986 that he be taken back in service and paid full back wages. He termed his termination as unjustified and illegal. Since there was no response from the employers the appellant raised the industrial dispute. It was contended by the management that it was an Authority run by the State of U.P. and had its own rules and regulations. According to management U.P. Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 was not applicable to them and that the workman was governed by the provisions of the Public Service Tribunal Act, 1976. It was, therefore, submitted by the management that the order of reference of the State of U.P. was liable to be rejected as the Labour Court had no jurisdiction to adjudicate on the order of reference. On facts the management alleged that Madan Pal Singh had been a casual labourer on daily wages on temporary basis from time to time and on the expiry of the limited period his services used to be terminated. It was also submitted that the appellant was never employed on any permanent post nor was he made permanent and since he was working as casual labourer, as and when required, his services were liable to be terminated at any time without giving any notice or reason. It was also submitted that appellant did not work continuously and that he worked with break from time to time. It was further submitted that services of the appellant were not satisfactory and his service could not be continued. There was no violation of any service rules in terminating the services of the appellant. Lastly, it was submitted that the appellant was gainfully employed and that evidence would be adduced for that purpose. In support of his case Madan Pal Singh examined himself. Evidence was led on behalf of the management. In his statement Pratap Kumar, Pariyojna Abhiyanta on behalf of the management said that no one by the name Madan Lal was ever employed and services of no Madan Lal were terminated on July 8, 1986. In cross-examination, however, he admitted that he knew Madan Lal and Madan Pal Singh who was presented in the Court. He denied that Madan Pal Singh's services had been illegally terminated.

7. When the appellant came to know that his name was written as Madan Lal in the reference order he wrote to the Joint Secretary to the Government of U.P. on September 19, 1991 for correction of the mistake. Appellant sought adjournment from the Labour Court on the ground that he was getting the reference amended. This was objected to by the employer. However, Labour Court, after hearing the parties, concluded that instead of Madan Pal the name of Madan Lal had been mentioned and that there was no dispute between Madan Lal and the management. It said that in spite of the time having been given to the appellant to get the reference amended and mistake rectified nothing was done till the date of the Award. It, therefore, held that there was no relationship between Madan Lal and the management and there was no industrial dispute existing till then. That being so there was no question of terminating the services of Madan Lal and that due to all these reasons the reference was bad. The Award was published on March 16, 1992.

8. On March 24, 1992 State Government amended the reference and said that in place of the existing name of the workman Madan Lal, Madan Pal Singh has been written and be read accordingly.

9. Appellant again approached the Labour Court and brought to its notice the amended reference and prayed that in the interest of justice necessary order be passed on the reference.

10. By order dated June 3, 1993 Labour Court noted that order dated March 24, 1992 had been received from the State Government and that the appellant submitted application dated May 31, 1992 for necessary action in the reference. This was objected to by the management on the ground that no amendment could be made after the Award had been given. Agreeing with the management the Labour Court rejected the application of the appellant. He then filed a writ petition in the High Court challenging the order of the Labour Court which, as noted above, was dismissed by the impugned judgment.

11. High Court observed that appellant was not employed to any regular post after selection in accordance with service rules of NOIDA and his employment was not on regular basis. His employment began in the morning and came to an end in the evening every day. After August 7, 1986 appellant was not employed and thus for more than 12 years he was not in service of the management. High Court then went on to hold as under :-

Nothing could be more unfortunate for the poor workman. Justice remained elusive, a far cry for him in spite of so much laws. Slow pace of bureaucracy on the one hand and rage for disposal by the Labour Court on the other led to injustice.

12. During the course of adjudication proceedings no one was in doubt about the identity of the workman that it was Madan Pal Singh. The management did not raise the preliminary objection about the validity of the reference on the ground that no workman by the name Madan Lal was in its employment and so the reference was bad. Evidence had been led before the Labour Court and it is only at the fag end of the proceedings that it was stated by the management that there was no Madan Lal in its employment. No doubt, initially that fault lay on the workman himself when he gave wrong name and then did not pursue for correction of the name. There may have been causes for delay but it cannot be said that the appellant is solely to be blamed for all this. Tirelessly and single-handedly he has been fighting his case against the might of the State undertaking. If he was in fault to any extent in the delay of disposal of his case all these years and if ultimately he is found to be entitled to relief, the court can certainly mould the relief suitably. Equitable considerations can certainly be taken into account in such a case.

13. When it came to its notice that the name of the workman was not correctly mentioned in the reference through there was no doubt about his identity the Labour Court itself could have sought correction of the reference from the State Government. When the appellant approached the State Government for correcting the reference Labour Court certainly could have waited till the State Government amended the reference or otherwise. If the Labour Court did not possess jurisdiction inasmuch as there was no industrial dispute because there was no workman in respect of whom industrial dispute was sought to be raised, the reference itself was non est and the award a nullity. When the reference had been amended jurisdiction stood conferred on the Labour Court and it could have held proceedings from the stage taking the reference to be valid from the date of its amendment. With the consent of the parties it could have relied upon the evidence which it had recorded before the reference was amended. Whatever the situation this Court cannot permit injustice to perpetuate.

14. Accordingly, the impugned judgment of the High Court is set aside and so is the Award dated January 31, 1992 of the Labour Court. Matter will go back to the Labour Court to adjudicate the industrial dispute now between the workman Madan Pal Singh and the management being the NOIDA. It shall take on record the evidence which had already been recorded earlier before the amendment of the reference and, if necessary, grant further opportunity to the parties to lead evidence. Matter being old we need not stress for the expeditious disposal of the reference by the Labour Court.

15. The appeal is allowed with costs which we quantify at Rs. 10,000/-. Costs shall be payable by the State Government for it not responding to the plea of the appellant in amending the reference in time and thus causing him sufferings and expense all these years.

Appeal allowed.