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2001 (2) TMI 955 - SUPREME COURTWhether there is a closure of the company within the meaning of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 ? Whether the agreement dated 25-8-1965 is capable of enforcement ? Whether the workers are workmen or entitled to prefer any claim on the basis of the agreement dated 25-8-1965? Whether the transferor-company or the transferee-Corporation can assert that there has been closure and further that agreement is not capable of enforcement? Held that:- Here there has been no transfer for the undertaking from the company to the Corporation as found by the Tribunal and upheld by the High Court, because by order made by the company court, the scheme of arrangement was to close down the company and what was taken over by the Corporation was a separate arrangement. Therefore, in the eye of the law, what is to be held is that the undertaking is closed down on account of unavoidable circumstances beyond the control of the employer and every workman who has been in service for more than ten (one ?) year in that undertaking immediately before such closure shall be entitled to notice and compensation in accordance with the provision of section 25F, as if the workman has been retrenched. In case where an undertaking is closed down by reason of financial difficulties as was the position in the present case, it cannot be deemed to have been closed down on account of unavoidable circumstances beyond the control of the employer. Therefore, if an application is made by the workmen or by the union on their behalf before a Labour Court under section 33C(2), it will be proper for the Labour Court to examine the claims under section 25FFF of the Industrial Disputes Act, of each of these workmen and award compensation accordingly, which shall be payable by the Union of India and to those proceedings, the erstwhile company and the Union of India shall be parties. Thus direct the Labour Court concerned on the filing of such applications to dispose of the same within a period of three months
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