VINOD KUMAR Vs. LABOUR COURT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner-workman aggrieved by the award of the Labour Court, Allahabad dated 15th October, 1984, passed in Adjudication Case No. 82 of 1983, approached this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, copy where of is annexed as Annexure-'26' to the writ petition.

(2.) The Following dispute was referred to the Labour Court by the State Government on 14th September, 1983 in exercise of its powers under Section 4-K of the U.P. Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, for adjudication. ..(Vernacular Text Deleted)..

(3.) The Labour Court issued notices to both the parties, namely, the employers as well as the workman concerned. The parties have exchanged their pleadings and adduced their evidence. In short, the case set up by the workman is that he was employed by the employers on 16th September, 1980 on the post of Clerk and had continuously worked till 21st October, 1982 and his services were given only artificial breaks, as stated in Annexure-'I' to the written statement. Learned Counsel appearing on behalf of the respondent-employers Sri P.K. Mukherjee argued that the finding of the Labour Court that the workman has not worked for 240 days continuously in one calendar year, therefore, he cannot be termed as Workman is a finding of fact and therefore, the reference has rightly been answered against the workman. On the contrary, Sri Shyam Narayan, learned Counsel appearing on behalf of the workman has relied upon the following decisions reported in 1997 (75) FLR 47, British India Corporation Ltd. Cawnpore Woollen Mills Branch, Kanpur v. The Labour Court-II, U.P., Kanpur and Ors., 1989 Lab I.C. 1914; Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd., Baroda v. R.V. Krishnarao, which say that the amendment brought in Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (Central) in 1984 is prospective and not retrospective. Further learned Counsel for the petitioner-workman has relied upon the decisions reported in 1994 (69) FLR 288, Prabhu Narain Rai and Anr. v. Secretary-cum-General Manager, District Co-operative Bank Ltd., Jhansi and Ors.; 2002 (93) FLR 197, Prathma Bank v. Presiding Officer, Central Government Industrial Tribunal-cum-Labour Court, Pandu Nagar, Kanpur; 2002 (93) FLR 199, U.P. State Electricity Board and. Anr. v. Presiding Officer, Labour Court, Varanasi and Anr.; (1991) 2 UPLBEC 1267, U.P. Bank Employees Union, Fatehpur Unit, Fatehpur and Ors. v. District Co-operative Bank Ltd., Fatehpur and Ors.; 1996 (72) FLR 554, Punjab State Seeds Corporation v. Labour Court, Jalandhar and Anr.; 1986 Lab I.C. 251, Arun Kumar v. Union of India and Ors..