WHITEWAY DRESSES Vs. ADDL LABOUR COURT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner herein is a partnership concern engaged in the manufacture and sale of readymade garments at No. 9, Memorial Hall Street, Madras-3. The second respondent herein along with 7 others filed Claim Petition No. 15 of 1971 on the file of the Labour Court, first respondent herein, under Section 33c (2) of the Industrial Disputes Act claiming in all a sum of Rs. 4,448 as and for holidays and leave wages for a period of six years ending 1970. We are not concerned with the claim put forward by the other claimants in this writ petition. We are concerned in this case only with the claim put forward by the second respondent.

(2.) THE claim was resisted by the petitioner on the grounds : (1) that the second respondent is not a " person employed " as denned in Section 2 (12) of the Tamil Nadu Shops and Establishments Act, 1947 (hereinafter referred to as the " Act"); (2) that the second respondent had no manner of right for wages for weekly closing days and for the national and festival holidays when the shop remained closed ; and (3) that he is not eligible for any relief under Chapter 6 of the Act.

(3.) THE first respondent, however, held that the second respondent is a " person employed " as defined in Section 2 (12) of the Act, that, therefore, he is entitled to claim the benefits of the Act, and that he is entitled to the sum claimed by him in the claim petition. In this view the Labour Court awarded a sum of Rs. 4,448 as claimed by the second respondent, by an order dated 14th June, 1973. The validity of the said award has been challenged in this writ petition.