OCL INDIA LIMITED Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE order dated January 30, 2002 (Annexure 5) passed by the Labour Commissioner, Orissa under Sub section (3) of Section 25N of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') refusing permission for retrenchment of 270 workmen in the Industrial establishment of the Orissa Cement Limited (petitioner No. 1) is the subject matter of challenge in this writ petition.

(2.) BRIEFLY stated the case of the petitioners is that petitioner No. 1 OCL India Limited is an existing company under the Companies Act, 1956. It has its registered office at Rajgangpur in the district of Sundargarh and is engaged in the business of manufacture and sale of cement and refractory products. Petitioner No. 2 is one of the shareholders of petitioner No. 1. The refractory establishment of petitioner No. 1 was established in 1956 and was one of the largest of its kind in Asia. Following recession in the steel industry in the world, the Refractory unit became unviable. As a result, there was huge accumulation of finished and semi finished goods. The unit started suffering loss year after year. Although adequate, steps were taken to revamp the ailing unit, it did not yield any desired result. Finding no other way, petitioner No. 1 made an application under Clause (b) of Sub section (1) of Section 25N of the Act on October 27, 2001 to the Labour Commissioner, Orissa seeking permission to retrench 270 workmen out of 860 workmen employed in the Refractory unit on the grounds, mentioned in the application. The said application was received by the Labour Commissioner, Orissa. on November 1, 2001. The Labour Commissioner on receipt of the application issued notice on November 21, 2001 (Annexure 2) to all concerned to appear before him on the dates mentioned in the notice for hearing. The validity of the said notice came to be challenged by Utkal Shramik Sangha, a recognised trade union operating in the industry of the petitioner No. 1 in a writ petition (OJC No. 16459 of 2001). This Court while issuing the Rule on December 11, 2001, directed that any decision taken in the meantime by the Labour Commissioner shall be subject to the result of the writ petition. The Labour Commissioner as per his notice heard the matter on December 16, 2001, December 19, 2001 and December 21, 2001 and passed the following order on December 29, 2001 (Annexure 3).

(3.) ON our direction, the learned Additional Government Advocate produced the relevant records from the Labour Commissioner. On its perusal, we find that as a matter of fact he had passed an order on December 29, 2001 in the file as per Annexure A/2 but the same was not communicated. It is only after disposal of OJC No. '16459of2001 he passed the final order on January 30, 2002.