UPTRON POWERTRONICS LTD Vs. STATE OF UP

JUDGEMENT

(1.) An application under the provisions of the U.P. Industrial Peace (Timely Payment of Wages) Act, 1978 (hereinafter referred to as the Act of 1978) was filed by the respondent 74 employees. Their grievance was that despite working in the petitioner's industrial establishment, the petitioner company has committed default in payment of wages to them which exceeds Rs. 50,000/-. The application was filed before respondent no. 3 who was the competent authority dealing with the matter. An objection was filed before respondent no. 3 by the petitioner company that all the employees have taken voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) and only 21 employees were left out of which, 17 were under lay-off for the disputed period from December 2002 till January 2005. Since they were under lay-off no amount was payable to them, as such, the proceedings initiated in this behalf under the Act of 1978 were not permissible. The matter was required to be decided by taking recourse to the Industrial Disputes Act. The question regarding legality of the lay-off was also required to be determined. Regarding remaining 4 employees, it is contended that their wages were not beyond Rs. 50,000/- as such, their claim was not maintainable under the Act of 1978. In addition to other pleas, it is stated that the company was facing acute financial crises and was registered under the B.I.F.R.

(2.) The labour court while dealing under the Act of 1978 accepted the plea of the company in respect of the employees who were brought under the voluntary retirement scheme. It was observed by the labour court that their cases were not covered under the Act of 1978. Regarding remaining 21 employees, the labour court found that they were regularly attending to their duties but had not been paid their wages for the various periods. Consequently, the labour court gave an award on 7.11.2005 by holding that an amount of Rs. 27,08,719/- was payable by the company to the employees. This order is subject matter of challenge in the present writ petition.

(3.) The grounds taken by the petitioner in the writ petition are :