SOUTH INDIA BANK LTD Vs. T D PICHUTHAYAPPAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an application for issuing a 'writ or certiorari' to quash the order of the Additional Commissioner for Workmen's Compensation, Madras, dated 23rd July 1951. The petitioner is the South India Bank Ltd. Respondent 1 was a clerk in the office of the petitioner. On 25-9-1950 he was served with a notice of termination of his employment. In the said notice it was stated that on account of retrenchment his services were terminated with effect from 1-10-1950. On 18-10-1950 he preferred an appeal under Section 41(2), Madras Shops and Establishments Act, 1947 (hereafter called the Act) to the Labour Commissioner, Madras, Questioning the validity of the termination of service. The Additional Commissioner for Workmen's Compensation, after making the prescribed enquiry and after hearing the parties, held that the discharge of the applicant was not for a reasonable cause and set aside the order of the bank discharging the petitioner. The bank filed the aforesaid writ for quashing that order.

(2.) Learned counsel for the petitioner made a three-pronged attack on Section 41 of the Act based on Article 14 of the Constitution of India which guaranteed to every person equality before the law and equal protection of the laws in the territory of India. It was said that the provisions of the Act made a discrimination between employee and employee & employer & employer & also conferred on the Commissioner a naked arbitrary power to interfere with the right of the employer to discharge the employee. To appreciate the contentions raised, it will be convenient at the outset to read the relevant sections of the Act and to consider the case law on the subject. Section 2(5):

(3.) The relevant provision of the Constitution is Article 14. It declares: