PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK LIMITED Vs. A N SEN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In Civil Writ No. 230 of 1951 the Punjab National Bank Limited, Delhi, hereinafter referred to as the Bank, applies for the issuance of a writ of 'certiorari' quashing the order passed on the 12th of September 1951, by the Industrial Disputes Tribunal, Delhi, hereinafter referred to as the Tribunal.

(2.) Briefly summarised, the facts that have given rise to Civil Writ No. 230 of 1951 are these: on the 11th of April, 1951, the employees of the Bank went on a pen-down and stay-in-strike as a protest against the suspension from service of Shri M. L. D. Sabharwal, an employee of the Bank. On the 22nd of April 1951, the Bank published a notice in the Press calling upon the employees of the Bank who had gone on strike to resume work by 10 a.m., on the 25th of April 1951. On the last mentioned date, the Bank issued a fresh notice in the press to the effect that recruitment of new staff had started, but that "former employees who wish to rejoin may apply explaining their action in staying away." The employees who had gone on strike did not rejoin the service of the Bank with the result that the All-India Punjab National Bank Employees' Federation, hereinafter referred to as the Federation, appealed to the Prime Minister of India to intervene in the dispute.

(3.) On the 9th of May, 1951, the Joint Secretary to the Government of India (Ministry of Labour) wrote 'inter alia', to the Managing Director of the Bank that the Ministry of Labour in consultation with the Finance Ministry felt that the best method of settling the dispute would be for the Bank to reinstate the employees except those to whose reinstatement the Bank had positive objection and to agree to refer for adjudication to an Industrial Tribunal the cases of the employees who were not reinstated.