RELENE PETROCHEMICALS PVT.LTD. Vs. SUNIL SUDHAKAR SATHE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition is directed against the order dated 8th July, 2005 passed by the Industrial Court, Thane below Exhs.19 and 20 in Complaint (ULP) No.118 of 2005 refusing to consider the objection raised by the respondent regarding maintainability of the complaint which centers around the question of limitation and existence of employer -employee relationship between the complainant and the respondents at the preliminary stage of the complaint. The basic facts are not in dispute. They need no reproduction for the view taken herein. Rival Submissions :

(2.) MR . C.U. Singh, learned senior counsel, appearing for the petitioner urged that it is a well -settled law that there must be an existing employer -employee relationship between the parties for a complaint under section 28 of the Maharashtra Recognition of Trade Unions and Prevention of Unfair Labour Practices Act, 1971 ("MRTU & PULP Act" for short) to make the complaint maintainable and sustainable. In absence thereof there is no lawful basis for the respondent No. 1 to maintain a complaint of unfair labour practices against the petitioner/ employer.

(3.) BASED on the aforesaid judgments, he reiterates that the learned Industrial Court has no jurisdiction to entertain and try the complaint of unfair labour practices filed by a person in the alleged capacity of an "employee", without first establishing his relationship as an employee of the purported employer, and that in respect of persons who seek to establish employer -employee relationship which is, admittedly, not in existence, the Industrial Court cannot embark on an exercise of adjudication to determine the employer -employee relationship between the complainant and the respondent company (petitioner herein).