VASKAR ROY Vs. THE SYNDICATE BANK & OTHERS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Award under challenge in this writ petition has been passed by the learned Presiding Officer, Central Government Industrial Tribunal -Cum -Labour Court (the Tribunal, for short), Asansol, in Reference No. 48 of 2004.

(2.) The case of the petitioner inter alia is that he was engaged as a peon in the Syndicate Bank, (Asansol Branch) under the Branch Manager, i.e., the respondent no. 2. His duties included taking out of ledger books, registers, cleaning of tables, sprinkling of water on the khus khus, serving water to the staff of the bank, so on and so forth. On July 1, 1993, the respondent no. 3 terminated the petitioner from service. During his tenure of service the respondent no. 2 made payment of his remuneration by voucher for a few days of a month and payment for the remaining portion of the month was given to him in hand. This was done, he alleges, to prove that he was engaged for a few days of a month only and it was also noted in the vouchers that the engagement was for sprinkling water in khus khus.

(3.) The respondent nos. 1 to 3 opposed this application by filing an affidavit -in -opposition. Apart from questioning the maintainability of writ petition on various grounds the answering respondents stated that in order to give comfort to the employees and the customers in general visiting the Asansol Branch of the concerned bank, the bank had put khus khus in the windows and doors of the branch premises. The petitioner was engaged in sprinkling water on them for the years 1991 to 1993 for the summer seasons only as a casual labour with the wage at the rate of Rs. 16/ - per day on no work no pay basis. When the heat of the summer receded his assignment for sprinkling water on khus khus was automatically withdrawn. No letter of appointment was ever issued to him and for disengaging him also no letter was issued.