CODIALABAIL PRESS Vs. MONAPPA K

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner who is the manager of a printing press, complains against the direction made against him under S. 15 of the Payment of Wages Act, for the payment of retrenchment compensation to his quondam employees, the respondents. The respondents contended that they had been retrenched and that the retrenchment compensation payable under S. 25F of the Industrial Disputes Act, was claimable as wages under the Payment of Wages Act. The petitioner denied the retrenchment and asserted that the respondents were retired from service after they attained the age of superannuation. Functioning under S. 15 of the Payment of Wages Act, the District Magistrate Gave the respondents the order they wanted, and the District Court dismissed the petitioner's appeals preferred under S. 17 of the Payment of Wages Act.

(2.) The first argument presented is that the applications of the employees were not entertainable under S. 15 of the Payment of Wages Act, since according to the petitioner the only order which may be sought under its provisions is one for the payment of wages, which, though admittedly due had been subjected to illegitimate deductions or had not been paid. That section, it was submitted, had to application to a claim for retrenchment compensation, where the employer denies the retrenchment, where the employer denies the retrenchment. The foundation of the employees' claim, is S. 25F of the Industrial Disputes Act which directs the payment of the compensation specified in it to a retrenched employee. The compensation so payable, it is contended, being wages, as defined by S. 2(vi)(d) of the Payment of Wages Act, is recoverable under S. 15 of that Act. That definition is :

(3.) Section 15 of the Payment of Wages Act under which the respondents made their claim reads :