KASHMIR CERAMICS LTD Vs. LABOUR COURT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) CONSEQUENT upon an application made by the employees of the petitioner Messrs Kashmir ceramics Limited, to the Labour Commissioner ,Jammu, that some employees had been illegally laid off by the petitioner, and that their due wages, increments and bonus were not being paid to them nor were they allowed to take benefit of the privilege leave and holidays etc., respondent no.3,the Government of Jammu and Kashmir , vide SRO No;46 dated 25 -1 -1972 ultimately referred the following disputes to respondent no.1, the Presiding officer ,Labour Court, Jammu, for adjudication:

(2.) APPEARING for the petitioner, Mr. Gupta has contended that respondent No : I has erred in holding that the factory could not be deemed to have been closed because its closure was mala fide. He has further contended that the reference of the dispute could not have been made by respondent No : 3 to respondent No: 1 as the disputes were clearly triable by an Industrial Tribunal, alone. Amplifying his first argument, the learned counsel has referred to two Supreme Court decisions viz : Tea Districts Labour Association, Calcutta Vs. Ex -employees of Tea Districts Labour Association and another, AIR 1960 S.C. 815, and Kalinga Tubes Ltd. Vs. Their Workmen, AIR 1969 S.C. 90 which undoubtedly lay down the principle that motive of the employer for closure of his business becomes wholly irrelevant once it is shown that the closure is real and is not merely a pretence for it. Respondent No : 1, argued the learned counsel, having found the closure to have in fact taken, place he could not have refused to take notice of it because in his opinion it was malafide. This view, according to the learned counsel was manifestly erroneous and the impugned order stood vitiated on this ground alone. This argument of the learned counsel even though formidable yet does not fall for consideration in this case for the reasons which presently follow.

(3.) INDUSTRIAL dispute has been denned in Sec. 2 (k) of the Act in these words : :