DELHI TRANSPORT CORPORATION Vs. JAI BHAGWAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Order which has been impugned in this Writ Petition is dated 23rd September, 1996 in which the Hon'ble Tribunal-II had dismissed the 'Approval' application of the Petitioner as a consequence of the Management's failure to pay costs.

(2.) Ms.Kittoo Bajaj, learned counsel for the Respondent, at the very threshold, concedes that the Order of dismissal of the Approval application on the ground of non-payment of costs may not be sustainable in view of the judgment of Division Bench of this Court in LPA No.480/00 entitled Delhi Transport Corporation vs. Shri Hari Narain Giri & Anr. The Hon'ble Division Bench had followed the view of the Apex Court in Punjab National Bank Ltd. vs. Sri Ram Kunwar Industrial Tribunal, Delhi and Others, AIR 1957 SC 276 holding that in terms of Section 11(7) of the Industrial Disputes Act, the costs of the proceedings would mean costs of the entire proceedings as determined on its conclusion and not costs in a pending proceeding, nor costs to be incurred in future by a party. Single Benches of this Court have remanded cases for this very reason.

(3.) The contention of Ms.Kittoo Bajaj, learned counsel for the Respondent Workmen, however, is that the present Petition ought not be entertained in view of the inordinate and unexplained delay in its filing. The facts are that the Approval application, which has been assailed in this Writ Petition, was passed on 23rd September, 1996. Thereafter, the Workmen initiated the present proceedings u/s 33(2)(B) of the Industrial Disputes Act. It is not in controversy that those proceedings were strenuously contested by the DTC/Petitioner. Those proceedings came to an end on 9th May, . 2002 and the Labour Court-VII had quantified the Workmen's dues at Rs.1,34,985/- for the period September, 1994 to August, 1997. The present Writ Petition has been filed on 4th April, 2000. The period intervening between the dismissal of the Approval application and the filing of the present Writ Petition is, therefore, approximately four years.