KARTICK CHANDRA MAHISH Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This writ application has been filed by 51 Contract Labours who worked under some Contractors being the respondent No. 8,9,10 and 11. These petitioners are members of a union namely "BSNL Nationalist Thika Workers' Congress' which has a Registration No. 25933. This trade union has been arrayed as respondent No. 7. The 51 petitioners have moved this application after paying full court fees in respect of all of the petitioners.

(2.) The prayer of the writ petitioners is that they are working under the contractors for doing job as contract labourers in BSNL (i.e. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited) for a long period of time but of late they have not been paid their salary/wages from April 2019.

(3.) The case made out by the petitioners is that the corporate office of respondent No. 2 (BSNL) did not release any fund to the local office and as such no fund could be transmitted to the contractors and their wages were not disbursed. Therefore, they have prayed that in terms of Section 21(4) of the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970 (hereinafter referred to as the 1970 Act), the principal employer being the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL, in short) should pay the salary/wage of the contract labours as BSNL is the principal employer. The petitioners' further case is that they do not come under the purview of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 and therefore for enforcing their right under the 1970 Act as contract labours the writ petition is maintainable. The petitioners have also stated that for making payment to them the Regional Labour Commissioner also issued letters to BSNL requesting payment to the contract labours in June 2019 and July 2019 (which has been annexed as annexure P-4 of the writ application) and despite that no payment to them has been made by BSNL i.e. the principal employer.