KARWA COMMERCIAL PVT LTD Vs. BABURAO K MALGAONKAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By this petition, the employer has challenged the Judgment and Order of the Fifth Labour Court, Mumbai in Reference (IDA) No. 175 of 1996 holding the respondent No. l's termination to be illegal and directing payment of Rs. 1,25,000/- towards compensation. The learned Labour Court rejected the prayer for reinstatement with full backwages.

(2.) The respondent No. 1 was working as an office boy with the petitioner. He had been employed from the year 1989. The services of the respondent were terminated orally on 16-2-1995. Termination was apparently due to the offensive behaviour of the respondent and mistakes at work. The petitioner terminated his services having lost confidence in him. A dispute regarding this, was referred to the Labour Court.

(3.) The petitioner is a Private Limited Company comprising of about 4 Directors, who are brothers. The petitioner company works as a commission agent for procurement of cement for their customers. The customers place orders on them on telephone and the petitioners place orders on the cement companies for despatch of the cement directly to the customers. Thus, the work of trading is carried out by the Directors themselves. Being a small company more in the nature of a firm, the company had employed two workmen. According to the company they are part time workers. However, whether the workers are full time or part time does not make difference in the present case. One of the workmen was the respondent No. 1 who used to serve tea in the premises and also carried bills to the customers and is said to have collected cheques from the customers. There is no evidence that he directly participated in the trading activity except that he indirectly supported it, as stated above.