A KESAVA BHATT Vs. SREE RAM AMBALAM TRUST

JUDGEMENT

(1.) A priest in a family temple has come to court. Purely materialistic is his demand demand for money - arrears of salary, as he puts it-from the Sree Ram Temple Trust, Alleppey. He fought for it before the Labour Court. He has not got it. An adverse order passed by the Labour Court is now attacked by him.

(2.) THE jurisdiction of the Labour Court under Section 33-C (2) of the industrial Disputes Act, 1947, was invoked by the petitioner by exhibit P-3 petition dated 31st January, 1986. He averred that he was entitled to unpaid salary for the preceding eight years at a monthly rate of Rs. 553; and for 12 years prior to that at the monthly rate of Rs. 200. The claims for the two periods aggregate to Rs. 1,01,088.

(3.) A fundamental objection was taken by the opposite party. It contended that the petitioner was not a "workman" and that the opposite party was not an employer; it claimed to be a "religious and charitable trust which manages the affairs of a family temple", and that the petitioner was only a "poojari. . . performing the poojas in the temple". According to the opposite party, when the petitioner crossed the age of 70, he was not in a position to render effectively his duties as a priest. That prompted the trust to terminate his services. By exhibit P-l communication dated 31st March, 1985, the trust terminated his services and intimated the petitioner its preparedness to pay him; in recognition of his past services, a sum of Rs. 2,500 and requested him to receive that amount from its office.