P SELVARAJ Vs. PRESIDING OFFICER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Petitioners, numbering 32, claiming themselves to be the permanent workers of TAC Floor Co., Ammandivilai, Kanyakumari District, 2nd Respondent, which is an unit of Alleppy Co., Ltd., at Alleppy in Kerala State and having its factory in Kanyakumari District, have preferred the Writ Petition, for a Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus, to quash the order made in l.A. Nos. 113/03 in I.D. Nos. 55 to 89/2000 on the file of the Labour Court, Tiruchirapalli, 1st Respondent, dated 29.9.2004 and consequently, prayed for a direction to the Labour Court to take up I.D. Nos. 55 to 89/2000 on its file and to dispose them, in accordance with law.

(2.) It is the case of the Petitioners that during 1981-82, the 2nd Respondent Company leased out a portion of the factory i.e., excluding Mat loom Section, to William Good acre & Sons Ltd., which is a sister concern of the 2nd Respondent, for a period of 5 years. According to them, both the companies were under one management, but for record purpose, they were shown as two different entities. Though a lease was stated to have been given to William Good acre & Sons Ltd., for five years, the real purpose of the lease was to retrench the workers of the 2nd Respondent-company and even after the lease, the 2nd Respondent continued to manage the company.

(3.) According to the Petitioners, the workers of the 2nd Respondent were retrenched under Section 25-FF of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act") from 1.4.1982 on the ground that they could not secure orders for the products and it was not economically viable to run the factory and many of the workers, including the Petitioners, bone-idle believed the stand taken by the 2nd Respondent and received retrenchment compensation paid under Section 25-FF of the Act.