RATAN LAL LAL PACHISIA Vs. RANCHHOR DAS RAMJI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By this application under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner has prayed for quashing Annexure-16, the order dated 7-7-1979 and Annexure-19 the Award dated 10-7-1980 passed by the Labour Court, Ranchi, in Reference Case No. 4 of of 1975.

(2.) The writ petitioner is the Management of Marine Diesel Engine Project, Dhurwa, which is an unit of Garden Reach Workshop Limited. The workmen are represented by the Marine Diesel Engine Project Workers' Union, respondent No. 3. The concerned workmen are Shri Indradeo Prasad, General Secretary of the Workers' Union and Shri Kamta Prasad Singh, Joint Secretary of the said Union. It may be stated that the writ petitioner is a Central Government undertaking and is admittedly a public limited company registered under section 617 of the Indian Companies Act. By a supplementary affidavit, the writ petitioner has given details of the involvement of the Central Government in this Company. It is stated that this Company, previously known as Garden Reach Ship Builders and Engineers Limited, was purchased by the Central Government in the year 1960. The shares owned by the private owners were, thereafter, transferred to the Central Government in the name of the President of India and five other officials on his behalf. Out of 23,00,000 equity shares 22,99,995 were in the name of the President of India and one share each in the name of five officers, one of whom appears to be the Secretary to the Government of West Bengal.

(3.) Sifting the relevant from the irrelevant the facts leading to this writ application based on the pleadings of the parties in this court are that one workman Shri G. L. Karan, was issued with a suspension order for the disobedience of a lawful order issued by Shri B. R. Das, Senior Production Engineer, under whom Shri Karan used to work. This was done on the 29th April, 1974 at about 11 A. M. At, about 11-30 A. M. on the same day, Shri Indradeo Prasad, General Secretary and Shri Kamta Prasad Singh, Joint Secretary of the Said Union along with 10-15 workmen entered into the office chambers of Shri B. R. Das, according to the petitioner, without his permission but according to the workmen having obtained prior permission from Mr. Das. Two other officers, according to the petitioner, were present. They were Shri S. Mukherjee and Shri J. D. Sarkar. Their presence, however, was denied by the workmen. Mr. Sarkar was physically pushed out from the room and Mr. Mukherjee wanted to go out of the room and proceeded towards the door to call the security personnel. In the meantime, on the refusal of Mr. B. R. Das to withdraw the suspension order of Mr. Karan, one workman, namely, Ramdyas Singh banged his fists on the table, as a result of which the glass portion of the table was broken into pieces. Mr. Mukherjee then did not go out and turned towards Mr. Das. It is stated that Shri Indradeo Prasad pushed Mr. Das and assaulted him with fists and blows causing injuries on his face. On alarm being raised, the officers in the adjoining Chambers came to Mr. Das's Chambers and one Mr. Aukufer, a German Expert, intervened and pushed out the workmen from the Chambers of Mr. Das. The matter was reported to the Deputy General Manager and Mr. Das was also examined by the Medical Officer. Reports were also submitted by Mr. S. Mukherjee and Mr. J. D. Sarkar and then on the advice of the deputy General Manager, Mr. Das lodged a first information report before the police and he also submitted injury report to the police. This version is denied by the workmen. They denied banging the table. The presence of Mr. Mukherjee is also denied. Action of Aukufer is also not accepted. They further stated that the injuries of Mr. Das were mainly as a result of conspiracy as to involve them in a case in order to get rid of them for their union activities. The version of the workmen is that on the date of occurrence they entered the room of Mr. Das after obtaining his permission and Shri Kamta Prasad Singh made enquiry from Mr. Das in respect of the suspension of Shri G. L. Karan, upon which, Shri B. R. Das, became angry and started abusing Kamta Prasad Singh, on which Kamta Prasad Singh protested. Mr. B. R. Das, caught hold of him and inflicted blows of fists and slaps. Kamta Prasad Singh was taken to hospital and on his statement before the police, a case was started. According to Mr. Das he was arrested because the Investigating Officer was the father-in-law of Shri Kamta Prasad Singh and this was done to humiliate him in the eye of public. According to the version of the workmen, the Investigating Officer is not the father-in- law of Kamta Prasad Singh and Mr. Das was arrested on the order of the Court since he was evading from appearing in court. Two criminal cases were started; in one case Shri Das was acquitted by the trial court and in the other Shri Kamta Prasad Singh and Shri Indra Deo Prasad were convicted by the Judicial Magistrate and their appeals were also dismissed by the learned Judicial Commissioner, Ranchi. They were, however, acquitted by this Court on the technical ground that there has been violation of section 68(1) of the Bihar Panchayat Raj Act, that is to say that the offences were triable by a Bench of Gram Kutchery. This court further directed that it would be open to the complainant to file a fresh complaint in accordance with law before the appropriate authority. The Management did not file any further complaint. It is necessary to reproduce the report dated 29-4-1974 submitted by Shri B. R. Das to the General Manager which is Annexure-5 to this writ application which runs as follows :