NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL WORKS BOMBAY Vs. JAMNADAS BHANJI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The facts leading to these applications for approval of the applicant company's action, under S. 33(2) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, are briefly as under. By a notice dated 17 May 1958, the company notified its operatives that on account of non-availability of raw materials it was impossible to work the factory in both the shifts and the management had decided to close down the working of the second shift with effect from 19 May 1958. The notice further stated that the services of 50 employees named in the list attached to it would be terminated from the date of the notice on payment of one month's wages in lieu of notice as retrenchment compensation which they were asked to receive from the office on the same day. Four more employees were further retrenched in accordance with the notice. Two of them were retrenched on 31 May 1958 and two on 9 June 1958. The company has now applied for approval of its action in retrenching the opponents.

(2.) The company has filed a copy of its standing order and I find that standing order 18 appears to have been mentioned in the notice through an error. The correct standing order applicable to the case is No. 10(c) which is as under :

(3.) The notice issued by the company speaks of the closure of the night shift and of retrenchment and the question is whether the company's action in retrenching the workmen on account of the closure requires to be approved by the tribunal. Now, the relevant provisions of S. 33 bearing on the necessity of obtaining the tribunal's approval are as under :-