PUDUKOTTAH TEXTILES LTD. Vs. A. SUBRAMANIAM AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner in each of these cases is the same, the Pudukottah Textiles, Ltd. The first respondent in each of these applications was an employee of the petitioner mills. It should be convenient to refer to them collectively as the respondents, except where the case of each individual employee has to be considered. Since the questions that arise for determination in these eight applications were mostly identical, I shall dispose of these applications by a common Order.

(2.) THE Government imposed a cut in the supply of electrical energy to textile mills among others in 1952 and 1953. As a result of that cut employees in several mills had to be laid off. They claimed compensation, which the managements of the mills were not inclined to grant. On 15th June, 1953, the Government referred to the Special Industrial Tribunal an industrial dispute between thee managements of the several mills and the workers in those mills, whether the involuntary unemployment brought on by the cut in the supply of electrical energy and the consequent lay -off justified the grant of lay -off compensation to the workers. The petitioner mill and its workers were parties to that industrial dispute. The Industrial Tribunal gave its award on 27th January, 1954. It is enough to note at this stage that the compensation it directed to be paid was limited to permanent employees, that is, those who had a year's continuous service, the word "continuous" of course, being understood in the light of the definition Tn the Industrial Disputes Act. The Management of the petitioner mills preferred an appeal against that award. It was common ground that the workers of the petitioner mills did not prefer any appeal.

(3.) THE petitioner resisted the applications. The Chairman of the Tribunal gave separate awards on the applications of A. Subramaniam (first respondent in W.P. No. 729 of 1956), Allapichai (first respondent in W.P. No. 734 of 1956), A. Ganapathy (first respondent in W.P. No. 731 of 1956), S. Rangaswami (first respondent in W.P. No. 735 of 1956) and S. K. Kayambu (first respondent in W.P. No. 755 of 1956). It was a joint award that the Tribunal passed in the case of C.T. Alagan (first respondent in W.P. No. 733 of 1956), A. Arumugam (first respondent in W.P. No. 732 of 1956) and R. Karuppaiah (first respondent in W.P. No. 730 of 1956). But even there the claims of each of them were separately considered.