OFFICE OF DIRECTOR GENERAL OF AUDIT POST AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS Vs. PRESIDING OFFICER CENTRAL GOVERNMENT INDUSTRIAL TRIBUNAL CUM LABOUR COURT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE management in this writ petition seeks to challenge an interim order dated 25. 08. 2009 passed by the Industrial Adjudicator rejecting its application under order 14 rules 1 and 2, CPC for treating the issue of jurisdiction of the Tribunal to hear the reference as a preliminary issue. The petitioner in this petition is the office of Director General of Audit, post and Telecommunications.

(2.) MS. Nandita Rao, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner, contends that the Hon'ble Supreme Court has held in two of its judgments, i. e. in Himanshu Kumar Vidyarti Vs. State of Bihar, JT (1997) (4) SC 560 and State of Gujarat Vs. Pratam Singh Narsingh Parmar, JT 2001 (3) SC 326, that the appointments made in the office of Comptroller and Auditor General of India are appointments to a central civil post under the Union of India as per the statutory rules, i. e. Indian Audit and accounts Department (Record Keeper) Recruitment Rules, 1985 framed by the President of India under Article 148 of the Constitution of India in consultation with the Comptroller and Auditor General of India and, for that reason, the appointments in the said Department are regulated by the statutory rules and the concept of 'industry' as defined in the industrial Disputes Act, 1947, to that extent stands excluded.

(3.) THE learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner further submits that the petitioner has taken an objection of jurisdiction of the tribunal to hear the reference and, according to her, the Tribunal below has wrongly declined to hear the objection of jurisdiction as a preliminary issue.