DHANALAKSHMI BANK LTD Vs. DY LABOUR COMMISSIONER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The third respondent was working as Assistant Manager of Kunnamkulam Branch of the Dhanalakshmi Bank Ltd., Trichur the writ petitioner herein. He was suspended from service on 1.1.1985 pending departmental enquiry. Subsequently, he was charge sheeted for serious misconduct. Ultimately he was dismissed from service of the petitioner bank with effect from 16.9.1985. The 3rd respondent filed a claim petition for subsistence allowance under the provisions of the Kerala Payment of Subsistence Allowance Act 1972 (for short the 'Act'). Ext. P2 is the copy of the said claim petition. Ultimately, the 1st respondent, the authority under the Kerala Payment of Subsistence Allowance Act passed Ext. P8 order directing the petitioner to pay Rs. 12,841/- to the third respondent towards subsistence allowance payable to him for the period from 1.1.1985 to 16.9.1985. The said order is under challenge in this Original Petition.

(2.) Ext. P8 order was passed by the 1st respondent under S.4 of the Act. After the enquiry it observed that the 3rd respondent was an 'employee' under the purview of the Act and therefore, he was entitled to file the application for the payment of subsistence allowance.

(3.) The learned counsel for the petitioner has raised two contentions before me. The first contention is that in view of the regulation of the Bank governing the payment of subsistence allowance to the officers under suspension, the 3rd respondent is not entitled to invoke the provisions of the Act. The second contention is that even assuming that the Act will apply, he is not an 'employee' coming within the definition of the term contained in S.2(a) of the Act.