S.B. CIVIL WRIT PETITION No. 6257 of 2011 · Rajasthan High Court

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE M.N. BHANDARI Mr.Govind Gupta for petitioner. By the Court: <><><> By this writ petition, a challenge is made to award of labour Court dated 22.7.2009 whereby reference has been answered against petitioner. It is a case where a dispute was raised by petitioner against his termination. The petitioner was appointed as Helper sometime in the year 1974. He was then promoted to higher post. The petitioner could not attend duties from January 1984 to June 1984 due to ill-health. He was in the meanwhile transferred under Superintending Engineer, RSDF. When he tried to give his joining then it was not accepted and thereupon vide order dated 22.6.1993 services of petitioner were terminated. It is submitted that impugned order of dismissal was not only disproportionate to misconduct and otherwise in violation of Section 25-F of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. 2 I have considered the submissions made by learned counsel for petitioner. The Petitioner knowing about his transfer chose to remain absent. The period of absence was treated on leave without wages vide order dated 6.11.1984 but even after

30.6.1984 petitioner chose to remain absent further. An inquiry into the matter was conducted where charges were found proved, thus order dated 22.6.1993 was passed. The labour court after hearing both the parties came to conclusion that petitioner remained absent from 30.6.1984. He was transferred to Jodhpur vide order dated 12.12.1984, however, transfer order was not accepted by him. A letter was sent even by post on 1.8.1987, which was then received by petitioner and replied on 3.9.1987. Further letter was sent in the month of July 1988, but it was returned back with remark that petitioner has left the house. Taking note of all these facts and circumstances of the case, labour court came to conclusion that there is no illegality in the impugned order and petitioner could not justify his absence of years together. In the aforesaid background, I do not find any ground to interfere in the question of fact decided by labour court as jurisdiction of this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India is very limited in view of the judgment of the Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Sadhana Lodh Vs National Insurance Company Limited and another reported in (2003) 3 SCC 524. Therein, Hon'ble Apex Court held as under:- 3 “7. The supervisory jurisdiction conferred on the High Court under Article 227 of the Constitution is confined only to see whether an inferior court or tribunal has proceeded within its parameters and not to correct an error apparent on the face of the record, much less of an error of law. In exercising the supervisory power under Article 227 of the Constitution, the High Court does not act as an appellate court or the tribunal. It is also not permissible to a High Court on a petition filed under Article 227 of the Constitution to review or reweigh the evidence upon which the inferior court or tribunal purports to have passed the order or to correct errors of law in the decision.

For the aforesaid reasons, we are of the view that since the insurer has a remedy by filing an appeal before the High Court, the High Court ought not to have entertained the petition under Article 226/227 of the Constitution and for that reason, the judgment and order under challenge deserves to be set aside. We, accordingly, set aside the judgment and order under appeal. The appeal is allowed. There shall be no order as to costs. However, it would be open to the insurer to file an appeal if it is permissible under the law.” In the light of the discussion made above, I do not find any illegality in the impugned award passed by the labour court. This is more so when petitioner is one, who remained absent unauthorizedly for a petty long time after knowing about his transfer. The writ petition is dismissed accordingly. (M.N. BHANDARI), J. Sunil/PA All corrections made in the judgment/order have been incorporated in the judgment/order being emailed. (Sunil Solanki) P.A.