ORIENTAL CONTAINERS LTD Vs. ENGINEERING WORKERS ASSOCIATION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS Notice of Motion seeks that this Court should direct that a criminal complaint be filed against the respondents excepting Respondent No. 2 under the provisions of Section 340 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for offences under Sections 193, 196, 199 and 200 of the Indian Penal Code.

(2.) AN affidavit in support of the Motion filed by the Chief Executive and Secretary of the Petitioner-company states that in the proceedings before the Labour Court, the Labour Court directed reinstatement of the workmen with continuity of service and full backwages with effect from their respective dates of dismissal. The said award was challenged in this Court by filing Writ Petition No. 2473 of 1994. The matter initially came up before the learned single Judge who granted ad interim relief. The petition admittedly was filed sometime in December 1994. It came up again for orders on February 1, 1995 when the learned Judge continued the interim relief till the final hearing of the main petition and further observed that the petitioners shall pay the salary to the respondents workmen under Section 17-B of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (hereinafter referred to as the "act") and the respondent-workmen have to make a declaration that they are not gainfully employed anywhere. Respondent No. 4 made an affidavit in support of the Notice of Motion taken out by the Association being Notice of Motion No. 208 of 1995 in the aforesaid Writ Petition enclosing 27 affidavits of the workmen declaring that they are not gainfully employed. Para 5, which is common in all the affidavits is as under :

(3.) IT is the case of the company that Respondents "no. 3, 4 and 5 who are office bearers of the Union have connived with the respondents in making statements known to be false or believed to be false. Thereafter it is stated that Respondent No. 6 had been in the employment of one Poysha Industrial Company Ltd. Details of other respondents are given to which we have occasion to make a reference. In short, the submission is that some of the respondent-workmen have made false affidavits before this Court in support of the Notice of Motion under the provisions of Section 17-B of the Act and have thus committed offences under various Sections of the Indian Penal Code mentioned earlier and this Court, under the provisions of Section 340 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, should direct an appropriate Officer to file a complaint against the respondent-workmen and the Union leaders in that behalf.