GHISILAL Vs. STATE INDUSTRIAL COURT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By this petition under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner has challenged the validity of the order passed by Industrial Court, Bhopal reversing the order of Labour Court and dismissing the application filed under Section 31 read with Section 61 of M. P. Industrial Relations Act, 1960 (in short 'the Act').

(2.) No exhaustive statements of facts are necessary for the disposal of this petition. Suffice it to state that petitioner was appointed as an Apprentice Artisan in the Machine Shop/Maintenance Section/Craft Section on January 31, 1980 (Annexure-P-1) In pursuance to the order Annexure-P-1 dated January 31, 1980 the petitioner started discharging his duty. Thereafter by order dated October 30, 1980 (Annexure-P-2) he was removed from the services. The petitioner thereafter filed an application under Section 31 read with Section 61 of the Act before Labour Court praying therein for his reinstatement with full back wages. In the application it has been submitted that on account of misconduct his services were terminated. However, no departmental enquiry was conducted against him. The petitioner has submitted Annexure-P-3 which is a letter of Vice President (Works) addressed to the petitioner in which it is stated that the petitioner has committed a misconduct as he insisted his co-employees to do less work. In the application filed before Labour Court it has been submitted that since the provisions as contained under Section 25-F of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 were not complied with, the action of Management removing the petitioner from the service amounts to illegal retrenchment and, therefore, petitioner is entitled for reinstatement and also back wages.

(3.) The employer refuted the averments made in the application by filing written statement and has taken the stand that the petitioner was not an 'employee' in terms of Section 2(13) of the Act as he was an 'apprentice' and his services were governed by the Apprentices Act, 1961 (for brevity "Act of 1961.")