WORLIKAR D K Vs. GODAVARI SUGAR MILLS LTD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal against a decision of the Judge, First Labour Court, Bombay, in an application made by the appellant praying for a declaration that the action of the respondent company in dismissing him was illegal and improper and for his reinstatement with compensation and other consequential reliefs.

(2.) The appellant was working as a stenographer in the respondent company's head office at Bombay on a monthly salary of Rs. 135 and a dearness allowance of Rs. 27. He was dismissed by the respondent on account of neglect of duty refusal to obey the directions given to him by his superiors and his insubordinate and arrogant behaviour. The appellant challenged the legality and propriety of the order passed by the respondent and prayed for his reinstatement with compensation.

(3.) The respondent contended that inter alia that the notification issued by Government applying the Bombay Industrial Relations Act, 1946 to the Sugar factories does not apply to the head offices of the sugar companies and, as the appellant was working as an employee in the head office of the respondent, his application to the labour court under the Bombay Industrial Relations Act was not maintainable. The respondent further pleaded that the head office in which the appellant was working is concerned with the work of seven other companies and is housed in the same premises as the offices of those companies. The staff employed in the head office of the respondent company is common to all those companies and is not confined to the conduct of business of the sugar industry alone. The staff employed in the head office of the respondent has not been recognised by the Registrar under S. 11 of the Bombay Industrial Relations Act. The respondent, therefore, maintains that the present application made by the appellant was not maintainable under the Bombay Industrial Relations Act.