TMI Blog1984 (5) TMI 266X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... up a factory at Ujjain where it manufactures polyester fibre. Appellants in each of these appeals were the workmen of the respondent. There is a trade union of the workmen employed by the respondent of which at the relevant time three out of the five appellants in this group of appeals were office bearers. Babulal Nagar was the President of the Union: Babulal Jaiswal was the General Secretary and Ramesh Chandra was the Secretary. According to the respondents on June 3, 1975 around 11.10 P. M. One Verma a workman of the respondent on the shift being over went-out of the compound gate and took his seat i l a tempo when Babulal Nagar and Babulal Jaiswal along with three other appellant approached him and asked Verma to alight from the tempo as they wanted to talk to him. On Verma's disinclination to come out of. the vehicle, it was alleged that Babulal Nagar and Babulal Jaiswal pulled Verma out of the vehicle and all the appellants assaulted him with fists and kicks and felled him down as a result of which Verma sustained bleeding injuries on his head. On hearing the commotion, staff of the security department intervened and rescued him. Setting out these allegations a char ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y action for misconduct (l) The following acts or omissions on the part of an employee shall amount to a major misconduct: (a) to (e) xx xx xx (f) drunkenness, riotous or disorderly behaviour, during working hours at the undertaking or conduct endangering the life or safety of any person, intimidation, physical duress, or any act subversive of discipline. The allegation in the charge-sheet on the basis of which the domestic enquiry was held reads as under: F Babulal was on duty on 3.6.1975 in the B Shift from 3 p. m. to 11 p. m. At about 8.15 p.m. when Shri Satya Prakash Verma, a Telephone Operator and Shri K. C. Bagdi, Shift-time keeper were coming out of the canteen after taking their meals, Babulal Nagar and Babulal Jaiswal were sitting in the lawn in front of the canteen. At that time, Babulal Jaiswal asked Babulal Nagar to explain to Verma the whole position in Hindi. There upon Babulal Nagar went to Bagdi and Verma and uttered the following meaningful words:- You are just a child now. You do not understand anything; if you interfere in this, you will have to pay a heavy price, (true translation) Verma gave no reply and both Verma and Bagdi went into the offi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... se misconduct uncomplicated with time place content and wherever committed would constitute misconduct, held that the various acts of misconduct therein set out would be misconduct for the purpose of the relevant standing orders, if committed within the premises of the establishment or in the vicinity thereof. The Court further held that what constitutes establishment or its vicinity would depend upon the facts and circumstances of each case. But we shall not finally pronounce on this point as the industrial Court had remanded the matter to the Labour Court which has jurisdiction to examine this case and we are inclined to uphold that order. Therefore, the narrow question which we propose to examine in this case is whether the High Court in exercise of its extraordinary jurisdiction under Arts. 226 and 227 should have by giving undue importance to a technical objection of jurisdiction which on proper fathoming, it itself lacked should have set aside a well-considered reasoned judgment of the President of the Industrial Court which again had merely remanded the matter thus prolonging to some extent the agony of the unemployed workers commencing from 1975. Let us at the commenc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y given to them for being heard. (2) No application under sub-section (I) shall lie to the Industrial Court unless it is made within thirty days of the date on which the case has been finally decided by the Labour Court; Provided that in computing the period of thirty days the period requisite for obtaining a copy of the order shall be excluded. Having noticed the relevant provisions, it is now necessary to ascertain with precision the jurisdiction of the Labour Court under Sec. 61. The scheme of the standing orders applicable to the respondent Company would show that a penalty of dismissal or removal from service can be imposed after holding a domestic enquiry According to the relevant provisions in the standing orders, such an order when made would be open to challenge by a substantive application under Sec. 66 (1) and in such an application if and when made, the Labour Court will have jurisdiction to decide the legality and the propriety of the order. When jurisdiction is conferred union the Labour Court, not only to examine the legality of the order as also the propriety of the order, the Labour Court can in exercise of the jurisdiction examine the propriety or ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... . 15 (5) the High Court has jurisdiction to examine the legality or propriety of the order under revision and that would clearly justify the examination of the propriety or legality of the finding made by the authorities in the present case about the requirement of the landlord under s. 13 (3) (a) (iii). After referring to these two decisions, in Ching Chong Sine v. Puttay Gowder, Alagiriswami, J. held that tho court exercising revisional jurisdiction to decide the legality or propriety of an order has the power to come to a conclusion different from that arrived by the subordinate court on the same set of circumstances. In Ahmedabad Sarangpur Mills Company Ltd v. Industrial Court, Ahmedabad and Anr. a Division Bench of the Gujarat High Court held that the expression 'legality and propriety' in S. 78(1) of the Bombay Industrial Relations Act does not limit the jurisdiction of the labour court to a revisional jurisdiction. And that any order made by the employer under the standing order is subject to the jurisdiction conferred on the labour court under Sec. 78, which can scrutinise the legality and propriety of the order. This jurisdiction was described by the court as ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ause Sec. 61 of the Act is in pari materia with Sec. 78 of the Gujarat Act. However, it would be profitable to refer to the decision of this Court in Awdesh Kumar Bhatnagar v. The Gwalior Rayon Silk Mfg. (Weaving) Co. Ltd. and Anr. in which this Court while examining the scope of the jurisdiction conferred by Sec. 66 on the Industrial Court under the Act held that if the Labour Court has committed serious mistakes, the Industrial Court has jurisdiction to interfere with the same and upheld the decision of the Industrial Court which had interfered with the findings of facts recorded by the Labour Court A full Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in Nand Kumar Singh v. The State Industrial Court, Indore and Ors held that perverse or arbitrary findings based on no material fall within the ambit of the phrase exercise of jurisdiction illegally or with material irregularity justifying interference in revision. It is not necessary to further multiply the authorities. Therefore, it appears well-established that the Labour Court having jurisdiction to examine the legality and propriety of the order made by the employer under the standing order will have jurisdiction to examine the prop ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hich the Act has elsewhere conferred. Is this jurisdiction so circumscribed as to bring it on par with Sec. 115 of the, Code of Civil Procedure ? Proviso does cut down the ambit of the main provision but it cannot be interpreted to denude the main provision of any efficacy and reduce it to a paper provision. Both must be so interpreted as to permit interference which if not undertaken there would be miscarriage of justice. Sub-cl. (c) of the first proviso to Sec. 66(1) will permit the Industrial Court to interfere with the order made by the Labour Court, if the Labour Court has acted with material irregularity in disposal of the dispute before it. If the finding recorded by the Labour court is. such to which no reasonable man can arrive, obviously, the Industrial Court in exercise of its revisional jurisdiction would be entitled to interfere with the same even if patent jurisdictional error is not pointed out. Reverting to the facts of this case, the Industrial Court while having the revision petitions found that the petitioners were trade union workers and the three of them were the office-bearers of the Union. It was further found that a material piece of evidence clearly poin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ied in interfering with the order of the Labour Court. Even then the approach of the Industrial Court, being conscious of the severe constraints on its jurisdiction was of dignified restraint and just. It merely set aside the award of the Labour Court and did not proceed to reappraise evidence but remitted the case to the Labour Court for a fresh decision. It was thus an eminently just order. Is it such an order which the High Court could have interfered with in exercise of its extraordinary jurisdiction ? The High Court observed that the Labour Court can only interfere with the decision of the inquiry officer, if the findings arrived at by him were perverse. The High Court completely missed the ambit of jurisdiction of the Labour Court in that it had the jurisdiction to decide the legality and propriety of the order. Impropriety as converse of propriety cannot be equated with perversity as understood by the High Court. The High Court further observed that if 'the finding of the misconduct is a plausible conclusion flowing from the evidence adduced at the enquiry, the labour tribunals have no jurisdiction to sit in judgment over the decision of the employer, as an appellate ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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