M SELVENDRAN Vs. LABOUR COMMISSIONER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner has filed this petition being aggrieved by order dated November 7, 2007 passed by the Labour Commissioner, Madhya Pradesh Industrial Tribunal, Indore, whereby sanction has been granted for prosecution of the petitioner under the provisions of Section 29 read with Section 34 of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act').

(2.) IT is submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that initially certain awards were passed by the Labour Court on February 23, 1988 and April 29, 1997, in the disputes raised by the Nagar Nigam Jal Praday Shramik Sangh Avam Lok Karm Vibhag, Shramik Sangh, Jabalpur, directing regularization of the employees of the Municipal Corporation. IT is stated that these awards were not complied with and, therefore, the President of the Sangh again approached the Labour Court under Section 10(1)(c) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 and by award dated November 23, 2004 which was subsequently modified by order dated April 6, 2005 the Municipal Corporation, Jabalpur was directed to regularize the members of the petitioner's Union. As all the members of the petitioner's Union were not recognized, the Sangh filed a petition and thereafter an application under Section 29 read with Section 34 of the Act on August 20, 2007 before the Labour Commissioner, Indore seeking prosecution of as many as 8 previous Commissioners of Municipal Corporation, Jabalpur which application has been allowed by impugned order dated November 7, 2007 directing initiation of prosecution of the petitioner who was the Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation, Jabalpur from September, 2007 onwards for a period of five months.

(3.) AS the aforesaid directions were not complied with Contempt Petition No. 70/2004 was filed which was also disposed of with a direction to the Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Jabalpur to complete the exercise of regularization within three months. The aforesaid orders, passed by the High Court including the one passed in the case of Om Prakash Dubey v. R.K. Goyal, Contempt Petition No. 70/2002 decided on August 18, 2005, travelled to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court in the case of Municipal Corporation, Jabalpur v. Om Prakash Dubey, AIR 2007 SC 893 : (2007) 1 SCC 373 : 2007-I-LLJ-1026 set aside the impugned order passed by this Court in CP. No. 70/2004, Annexure P-4, dated August 18, 2005 with the following observations: