STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH Vs. RISHIPAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted. The management is in appeal before us.

(2.) The respondent-workman (for short 'the respondent') was employed by the appellants on 1/1/1990 on daily wages as Cook helper in Upper Ganga Canal, Modernization Division-6, Roorkee. His services are alleged to have been terminated on 31/3/1992.

(3.) After a gap of nearly six years, viz., in the year 1998, respondent filed an application for conciliation before Assistant Labour Commissioner and Conciliation Officer which was registered as Adjudication Dispute No.119 of 1998. The Labour Court, in its award passed on 29/8/1998, came to the conclusion that the respondent having approached the Labour Court after a lapse of five/six years, the right of the workman stood dissolved and held that his case had become stale and he was not entitled to any relief. For coming to this conclusion, the Labour Court relied on a judgment of the Punjab & Haryana High Court in the case of Balwant Singh v. Labour Court, Bhatinda decided on 25/5/1995. On the basis of muster rolls produced by the appellants, the Labour Court also held that the workman had not worked for more than 240 days in a calender year and, therefore, no industrial dispute existed. The Labour Court, therefore, adjudicated the reference against the respondent. The said award is stated to have been published in the Official Gazette.