N MOHAMOOD HAJEE Vs. COMMISSIONER OF POLICE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) CRL. M. P. No. 34 of 1978 has been filed under Section 482, Crl. P. C. praying this Court to direct the respondent-the Commissioner of Police by himself and through his officers to disperse and remove all the persons remaining unlawfully inside the premises of the Neo Ranga Vilas Hotel at No. 366-367, N. S. C. Bose Road, Madras to enable the petitioner and his partners to have exclusive control and possession of the premises. Writ Petition No. 560 of 1978 is a petition for the issue of a writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate writ to the respondent-Commissioner of Police directing him to disperse the unlawful assembly in the aforesaid premises.

(2.) THE petitioner in both these petitions is one of the three partners who own and run a vegetarian restaurant in the name and style of Neo Ranga Vilas at No. 366-367, N. S. C. Bose Road, Madras, which hotel has been running for the last several years. The aforesaid premises actually belonged to the L. I. C. of India, but the petitioner and his partners have taken it on lease on a monthly rent of Rs. 1,800 for running the hotel in the premises. In the affidavit filed by the petitioner in support of his petition Crl. M. P. No. 34 of 1978 and that filed in support of the writ petition, it has been stated that there are about 65 workers in that hotel, that about a month prior to the filing of the Crl. M. P. a section of the workers joined an unregistered trade union under the name and style of the Madras City Anna Hotel Workers Union which union was formed on the initiative of some outsiders and at the instigation of those outsiders about 40 of the workers, have been indulging in acts of indiscipline, intimidation of other workers, and non-co-operation with the employers; and while matters were so, on 24th December, 1971 the petitioner and his partners issued a notice to one M. R. Sekar, a temporary employee of the hotel terminating his service since his behaviour with the customers was becoming increasingly atrocious and since the aforesaid employee refused to accept the notice, the notice was sent by registered post, but it was still not accepted, and hence on 27th December, 1977 the notice was displayed on the notice-board, and on 29th December, 1977 after the working hours of the hotel which were from 06-30 hours in the morning till 20-30 hours in the night, when K. M. Mohideen, one of the partners and the petitioner were working in the office examining the accounts in the aforesaid premises, and Abdullah the cashier was counting the cash, about 40 workmen belonging to the aforesaid union along with a number of outsiders trespassed into the hotel at 20-45 hours and assaulted the petitioner, his partner and the cashier Abdullah and caused extensive damage to the properties in the premises and 8 of those persons surrounded the petitioner and beat him, causing injuries to him and he had to be taken to the Stanley Hospital for treatment, and when a call was made to the emergency police, the police came to the spot and all the workmen were asked to leave the premises and most of them went away to their quarters at No. 55, P. V. Iyer Street, Madras which quarters had been provided by the employers and the aforesaid persons belonging to the aforesaid union threatened the loyal workers and as a result thereof the loyal workers were afraid to work any longer in the hotel, and consequently, the hotel had to be closed down from 30th December, 1977 after the gates of the hotel had been locked on the night of 29th December, 1977, but on 31st December, 1977 at about 10-30 a. m. the workmen who created that trouble and who were squatting outside the premises broke open the locks and trespassed into the hotel premises, locked themselves inside and are continuing to stay inside the hotel premises and when a complaint was given to the Inspector of Police B2, Police Station by the petitioner complaining of trespass and unlawful assembly and requesting the Inspector to remove the trespassers from the premises and to render protection to the property kept in the premises, the Police did not take any action except to send two policemen to guard the pavement outside the hotel, and in spite of several representations made by the petitioner and his partners to various officials of the police department and in spite of a petition presented on 2nd January, 1978 to the Commissioner of Police himself, the police have not taken any action against the trespassers and as such the Commissioner of Police and the Officers of the B2 police station have abdicated their functions and their statutory duties and as such a direction may be given by this Court, directing the respondent-Commissioner of Police to disperse all the persons who are remaining unlawfully inside the hotel premises in order to enable the proprietors to have exclusive control and possession of the premises.

(3.) A notice was issued to the respondent in the Crl. M. P. and in response thereto, Sri Selvaraj, the Sub-Inspector of Police, Law College Police Station filed a counter-affidavit in which he has stated that on 29th December, 1977 at 9 p. m. a complaint was given by the petitioner against 8 workers and some others alleging that those 8 persons who were employees in his hotel New Ranga Vilas had assaulted him when an altercation. ensued between him and those persons when one of the persons, Sekar and some others attempted to remove from the notice board a notice of termination of the services of Sekar and he, Selvaraj registered that complaint as Cr. Mo. 1119/77 under Sections 147, 341, 323, 324 and 427, IPC and at 9-15 p. m. the same day one Anthony, an employee of the same hotel preferred a complaint against the petitioner and his partner and some others alleging that when he requested the removal of the notice regarding the termination of the services of Sekar, the petitioner refused to do so and challenged him, Anthony whereupon, there was an altercation in which the petitioner and his partner, Mohideen Bai assaulted him and some strangers, whose presence had been secured by the petitioner took a chair and assaulted him, Anthony and his men and as a result of it, he, Anthony and three others sustained injuries and that complaint was registered as Cr. No. 1120/77 under Sections 147, 341, 323, 324 and 427, IPC and both the aforesaid crimes were investigated into and the investigation disclosed that there was a dispute between the management and the workers and as a consequence thereof both sides came to blows. It is further stated in that affidavit of Thiru Selvaraj that even though both sides alleged that outsiders had also taken part in the incidents, he could not trace who those outsiders were and since according to the Police Standing Orders, he had to get the opinion of the Public Prosecutor of the City as to who should be charged in view of the two complaints he was sending a report of the case through the Deptuy Commissioner of Police, Law and Order, Madras to the City Public Prosecutor for his opinion and since he wanted to ensure that there was no trouble in the area he visited the place on 30th December, 1977 and found the hotel open and found Mohideen Bai, one of the partners along with some of the employees inside the hotel and things appeared to be normal, but on 31st December, 1977 Thiru K. M. Mohideen gave a complaint at 12 noon against the workmen of the hotel alleging trespass and mischief and stating that they had already closed the hotel on 30th December, 1977, but the workmen were squatting outside the hotel till the morning of 31st December, 1977, and at about 10-30 a. m. on 31st December, 1977 they broke open the lock put up on the gate, and trespassed into the hotel along with some outsiders and were continuing to stay inside the hotel and on receipt of that complaint he, Selvaraj rushed to the hotel and found some employees inside the hotel and enquired them as to why they were inside the hotel, when the hotel was not being run, but they told him that they were all staying in that hotel whether they had work or not and even after working hours, and that even though the management had stopped running the hotel, they were staying as usual and are entitled to stay there and they told him further that they were there even on 30th December, 1977 inside the hotel since the rest quarters at 55, P. V. Iyer Street was found insufficient to accommodate all the employees during the rest periods and he recorded statements from those persons and wanted to confront K. M. Mohideen with those statements but the latter did not turn up and even though he, Selvaraj went to his residence in Kondi Chetty Street he could not find K. M. Mohideen and he then made enquiries in the locality but could not get any information from any outsiders about the breaking open of the locks and about the employees' forcible entry into the hotel and that he was still continuing to investigate into the matter.