FIDA HUSSAIN NAQASHBANDI Vs. PRESIDING OFFICER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IN this petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India read with Section 103 of the State Constitution, the petitioner has sought the intervention of this Court in exercise of its extraordinary writ jurisdiction for issuance of writ of Prohibition restraining Respondent No. 1, i. e. Presiding Officer, Industrial Tribunal-Labour Court from proceeding any further with the consideration of hearing of the appeal preferred before him by Respondent No. 2, J. and K State Forest Corporation against an Award passed by the Authority under Payment of Wages Act, Srinagar on December 23, 1992. The admitted facts are that the petitioner, Fida Hussain approached the Authority under the Payment of Wages Act ('authority' for short) under Subsection (3) of Section 15 of the Act. It is absolutely unnecessary to go into the details of the claims of the petitioner. Suffice it to say that the Authority passed an Award on December 23, 1992 whereby it granted an amount of Rs. 1,24,164/- in favour of the petitioner with costs assessed at Rs. 1000/ -.

(2.) SECTION 15 of the Payment of Wages Act deals with claims arising out of deductions from wages or delay in payment of wages and the matters relating to the penalty for malicious or vexatious claims. Under this Section jurisdiction has been vested with the Authority to pass Award and issue directions. Under Section 17 of the Act, a provision has been made for filing appeal against an order dismissing either wholly or in part, an application made under Sub-section (2) of Section 15 or against a direction made under Subsection (2) or under Sub-section (4 ). The Court of District Judge or the Small Cause Court, as the case may be, is the forum prescribed for filing such an appeal. The period of limitation prescribed is thirty days from the date of passing of the order proposed to be appealed against.

(3.) WHETHER the Award in question dated December 23, 1992 was a good Award or a bad Award, whether it was in violation of the provisions of Payment of Wages Act or any other law on the subject, the remedy open to the person aggrieved of the Award, namely, Respondent No. 2, was by way of an appeal in terms of Section 17 of the Act, as noted above. The matter is as simple as that.