TMI Blog2007 (4) TMI 673X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ad office at Coimbatore. It is having 17 branches in the Revenue District of Coimbatore. It is the case of the appellant-Bank that the Coimbatore District Central Bank Employees Association ( Union for short) gave a strike notice on March 31, 1972 which was received by the Management on April 5, 1972 proposing to go on strike from April 14, 1972. The reason for such notice and going on strike was suspension of certain employees and withholding of their salary by the Management. Since the strike-call was illegal and the notice was not in consonance with the provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (hereinafter referred to as the Act ), the action of going on strike was unlawful. The Union was accordingly informed not to go on strike. The Labour Officer, Coimbatore in the meanwhile commenced Conciliation Proceedings in connection with certain issues raised by the Union. Despite proper advice by Labour Officer, the employees commenced strike from April 17, 1972. The strike was totally illegal and unlawful. On April 19, 1972, notice was issued to the Union stating therein that the workmen should join duties by April 22, 1972 by tendering unconditional apology. The employees ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and relevant case law on the point, the Court held that all the four charges levelled against the workmen were proved. It also held the inquiry to be legal, valid and in consonance with the principles of natural justice. The evidence established that threat was administered by the employees. The Labour Court concluded; Unlike criminal cases it is not necessary that the evidence should be beyond doubt. Nevertheless, the witnesses have given clear evidence to prove charges. Therefore, we have to accept them and hold that charges 1 to 4 have been proved against all the 53 employees. On the basis of the above finding, the Labour Court held that it could not be said that the action of the Management could be described as illegal, unlawful or improper. Accordingly, the demands of the workmen were rejected and reference was dismissed. APPROACH OF HIGH COURT Being aggrieved by the award passed by the Labour Court, the Union approached the High Court by filing a Writ Petition. The learned Single Judge did not disagree with the findings recorded by the Labour Court and held that the workmen were not entitled to wages for the period they had not worked. As to the second punis ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nd well-reasoned award made by the Labour Court, Coimbatore. It was urged that once an inquiry has been held to be in consonance with rules of natural justice, charges had been proved and an order of punishment had been passed, it could not have been set aside by a Writ-Court in judicial review. The Labour Court recorded a finding of fact which had not been disturbed by the High Court that principles of natural justice were not violated. The inquiry was conducted in consonance with law and all the charges levelled against the employees were established. If it is so, the High Court was clearly wrong in interfering with the award of the Tribunal. According to the counsel, the High Court was neither exercising appellate power over the action taken by the Management nor on quantum of punishment awarded. The Court was also not having appellate jurisdiction over the Labour Court. The jurisdiction of the High Court under Article 226/227 of the Constitution was limited to the exercise of power of judicial review. In exercise of that power, the High Court could not substitute its own judgment for the judgment/order/action of either the Management or the Labour Court. The order of the High ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ncrement/increments of the workmen without cumulative effect and by setting aside payment of salary with 12% interest, but as the said part of the order passed by the Division Bench has not been appealed against by the Union, it would remain. But no case has been made out by the Bank Management to interfere with the order of the Division Bench and the appeal deserves to be dismissed. FINDINGS RECORDED We have given our most anxious and thoughtful consideration to the rival contentions of the parties. From the facts referred to above and the proceedings in the inquiry and final order of punishment, certain facts are no longer in dispute. A call for strike was given by the Union which was illegal, unlawful and not in consonance with law. Conciliation proceedings had been undertaken and there was amicable settlement of dispute between the Management on the one hand and the Union on the other hand. Pursuant to such settlement, 134 workmen resumed duty. 53 workmen, however, in spite of the strike being illegal, refused to join duty. Their action was, therefore, ex facie illegal. The workmen were, in the circumstances, placed under suspension and disciplinary proceedings were initi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... by both the sides to several decisions of English Courts as also of this Court. DOCTRINE OF PROPORTIONALITY So far as the doctrine of proportionality is concerned, there is no gainsaying that the said doctrine has not only arrived at in our legal system but has come to stay. With the rapid growth of Administrative Law and the need and necessity to control possible abuse of discretionary powers by various administrative authorities, certain principles have been evolved by Courts. If an action taken by any authority is contrary to law, improper, unreasonable, irrational or otherwise unreasonable, a Court of Law can interfere with such action by exercising power of judicial review. One of such modes of exercising power, known to law is the doctrine of proportionality . Proportionality is a principle where the Court is concerned with the process, method or manner in which the decision-maker has ordered his priorities, reached a conclusion or arrived at a decision. The very essence of decision-making consists in the attribution of relative importance to the factors and considerations in the case. The doctrine of proportionality thus steps in focus true nature of exercise \02 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... action is subject to control by judicial review. The first ground I would call illegality , the second irrationality and the third procedural impropriety . This is not to say that further development on a case by case basis may not in course of time add further grounds. I have in mind particularly the possible adoption in the future of the principle of proportionality \005 (emphasis supplied) CCSU has been reiterated by English Courts in several subsequent cases. We do not think it necessary to refer to all those cases. So far as our legal system is concerned, the doctrine is well-settled. Even prior to CCSU, this Court has held that if punishment imposed on an employee by an employer is grossly excessive, disproportionately high or unduly harsh, it cannot claim immunity from judicial scrutiny, and it is always open to a Court to interfere with such penalty in appropriate cases. In Hind Construction Co. v. Workmen, (1965) 2 SCR 85 : AIR 1965 SC 917, some workers remained absent from duty treating a particular day as holiday. They were dismissed from service. The Industrial Tribunal set aside the action. This Court held that the absence could have been treated as leave wi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s clear that our legal system also has accepted the doctrine of proportionality. The question, however, is whether in the facts and circumstances of the present case, the High Court was justified in invoking and applying the doctrine of proportionality. In our judgment, the answer must be in the negative. Normally, when disciplinary proceedings have been initiated and finding of fact has been recorded in such inquiry, it cannot be interfered with unless such finding is based on no evidence or is perverse, or is such that no reasonable man in the circumstances of the case would have reached such finding. In the present case, four charges had been levelled against the workmen. An inquiry was instituted and findings recorded that all the four charges were proved. The Labour Court considered the grievances of the workmen, negatived all the contentions raised by them, held the inquiry to be in consonance with principles of natural justice and findings supported by evidence. Keeping in view the charges proved, the Labour Court, in our opinion, rightly held that the punishment imposed on workmen could not be said to be harsh so as to interfere with it. In our opinion, therefore, the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and the misconduct was that these thirteen workmen physically obstructed other workmen who were willing to work from doing their work by sitting down between the tramlines. This was in our opinion serious misconduct on the part of the thirteen workmen and if it is found \026 as it has been found \026 proved, punishment of dismissal would be perfectly justified. (emphasis supplied) In M.P. Electricity Board v. Jagdish Chandra Sharma, (2005) 3 SCC 401, this Court held that dismissal for breach of discipline at workplace by employee could not be said to be disproportionate to the charge levelled and established and no interference was called for on the ground that such punishment was shockingly disproportionate to the charge pleaded and proved. As observed by this Court in M.P. Gangadharan Anr. v. State of Kerala Ors., (2006) 6 SCC 162, the constitutional requirement for judging the question of reasonableness and fairness on the part of the statutory authority must be considered having regard to the factual matrix in each case. It cannot be put in a straight-jacket formula. It must be considered keeping in view the doctrine of flexibility. Before an action is struck down, the C ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... fit which had been granted to 134 employees. In Union of India v. Parma Nanda, (1989) 2 SCC 177, a similar mistake was committed by the Central Administrative Tribunal which was corrected by this Court. In that case, P, an employee was chargesheeted alongwith other two employees for preparing false pay bills and bogus identity card. All of them were found guilty. A minor punishment was imposed on two employees, but P was dismissed from service since he was the mastermind of the plan. P approached the Central Administrative Tribunal. The Tribunal modified the punishment on the ground that two other persons were let off with minor punishment but the same benefit was not given to P. His application was, therefore, allowed and the penalty was reduced in the line of two other employees. The Union of India approached this Court. It was urged that the case of P was not similar to other employees inasmuch as he was the principal delinquent who was responsible for preparing the whole plan was a party to the fraud and the Tribunal was in error in extending the benefit which had been given to other two employees. Upholding the contention, this Court set aside the order passed by the Trib ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d by the Division Bench. 53 employees are now performing their functions and discharging their duties faithfully, diligently and to the satisfaction of the appellant-Bank. No proceedings have been initiated against them thereafter. Industrial peace has been restored. If at this stage, some order will be passed by this Court after so long a period, it may adversely affect the functioning of the Bank. It was further submitted that the grievance of the Bank has been vindicated and correct legal position has been declared by this Court. The Court in the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case, therefore, may not interfere with a limited relief granted by the Division Bench of the High Court. In our considered view, the submission is well founded and deserves acceptance. Hence, even though we are of the view that the learned Single Judge was not right in granting benefits and the order passed by the Division Bench also is not proper, it would not be appropriate to interfere with the final order passed by the Division Bench. Hence, while declaring the law on the point, we temper justice with mercy. In the exercise of plenary power under Article 142 of the Constitution, we think ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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