MANISH & CO. Vs. DEVENDER KUMAR MISHRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) M/s. Sockieting Tea Co. Pvt. Ltd. company incorporated under the Companies Act with the Registrar of companies at Kolkata took over the proprietorship firm M/s. Manish & Co. in 1995 with the result M/s. Manish & Co. became a unit of the parent company under the same management. Devender Kumar Mishra was appointed as Clerk-cum-Typist vide the appointment letter dated November 13, 1976 at a salary of '285/- per month. No other conditions were stipulated in the employment letter dated November 13, 1976. It is the case of M/s. Manish & Co. that it took the decision to close down its Delhi unit in the exigencies of business and thus Devender Mishra was transferred to their head office at Kolkata on September 30, 1994. The order of transfer reads as under:

(2.) Devender Mishra protested against the said transfer being illegal, not stipulated in his appointment letter and sought cancellation of the transfer order so that he could join his duty in Delhi vide letter dated October 05, 1994 followed by subsequent communications between M/s. Manish & Co. and Devender Mishra. In the letter dated October 22, 1994 for the first time Manish & Co. came up with the plea that there is no business activity of the management at Delhi at present and the office had been closed, thus Devender Mishra stood transferred to Kolkata with effect from October 01, 1994. An industrial dispute was raised by Devender Mishra claiming that his services were terminated illegally whereas M/s. Manish & Co. claimed that he abandoned the job having not joined at Kolkata.

(3.) On the claim of Devender Mishra the following reference was sent for adjudication to the learned Labour Court: