SREEKANTAN NAIR Vs. TRAVANCORE MINERAL CONCERNS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The main contention of the petitioners it that the 2nd petitioner and a number of others, who like him are members of the Travancore Mineral Workers Union, Chavara, of which the 1st petitioner is the Vice President, are entitled to re-employment in the Travancore Minerals Concerns, Chavara, as and when vacancies occur in that establishment. According to them the 2nd petitioner and a number of other workmen were retrenched during the period 1943-1949 and S.25H of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947:-

(2.) The Travancore Minerals Concerns is an industrial establishment owned and worked at present by the Government of Travancore-Cochin and the immediate provocation for the petition is the order of the Government directing that all future recruitment should be made exclusively through the medium of the Employment Exchange, Trivandrum. On 1.7.1954 they had ordered.

(3.) S.25H of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, was introduced by the Industrial Disputes (Amendment) Act, 1953, which replaced the Industrial Disputes (Amendment) Ordinance, 1953. The Ordinance was promulgated on the 24th October 1953 and S.1(2) of the Industrial Disputes (Amendment) Act, 1953, provides that the Amending Act, shall be deemed to have come into force on the 24th day of October 1953. It is clear from the said sub-section that the only retroactive operation given to the amending statute is to the 24th October 1953 and it cannot possibly affect cases of retrenchment beyond that date. The retrenchment in this case is alleged, as already stated, to have occurred not on or after the 24th October 1953 but between the years 1943 and 1949.