J NANDHINI Vs. DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF LABOUR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Section 41(1) of The Tamil Nadu Shops and Establishments Act, 1947 (the Act). That section reads as under:

(2.) It is the common case of the employers before us - the appellants in the writ appeal and the respondent in the writ petition that 'reasonable cause' referred to in the opening part of Section 41(1) of the Act should be construed to mean the basis of the order of termination, and that if the basis for that order is an enabling provision in the contract between the employer and the employee under which the employer may terminate the contract of employment after giving notice or paying wages in lieu of notice, the order of termination should be regarded as sufficient compliance with the requirement of Section 41(1) of the Act. The exercise of the contractual right to terminate the employment, according to them, should result in a conclusive presumption that 'cause' for the termination exists, and that such cause is 'reasonable'.

(3.) This argument, we are compelled to say, is an argument of desperation wholly unsupported by anything in the section or in the decisions of this Court or of Supreme Court which have dealt with that section or provisions similar thereto in other statutes.