BIHAR ENGINEERING KAMGAR UNION Vs. PRESIDING OFFICER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) HEARD the parties.

(2.) IN this writ application the petitioner has prayed for quashing the award dated 24.8.1995 (Annexure 5) passed by the respondent No. 1 (Presiding Officer, Labour Court, Hazaribagh) by which he has declared the reference itself as bad in law. 2000 (84) FLR 162 it has been held at paragraph 28 that an Industrial Tribunal is a creation of the statute and it gets jurisdiction on the basis of reference. 4. In the instant case, the reference was "whether not to engage workmen on work in the factory from 30.12.1989 by M/s. Jupiter Iron Industries, Ranchi - Patna Road, Hurhuru, Hazaribagh is justified - 5. Before the respondent No. 1, the management straight away filed a preliminary written statement, wherein they, inter alia, pleaded that the concerned workmen were not the workmen of the management. They also stated that the concerned workmen were contractors workmen. They also stated that the matter before the Conciliation Officer related to lock out but the Conciliation Officer misunderstood the whole thing and the Government in that misconception referred a wrong dispute which does not exist at all. They also took other points and prayed that the aforementioned point be decided as a final point and not as a preliminary point. The petitioner -Union strongly protested to the aforementioned preliminary written statement and in their rejoinder thereto they stated that "in industrial jurisprudence, the points raised in the written statement is not decided as a preliminary issue and more so the jurisdiction of the Labour Court has not been challenged in a proper manner. They also stated that the validity of reference, its maintainability and jurisdiction cannot be challenged at any stage. It is stated at the Bar that in support of the aforementioned contention the petitioner relied upon the judgment of the Supreme Court passed in the case of D.P. Maheshwari v. Delhi Administration and Ors., reported in AIR 1984 SC 153. The Supreme Court has held in the aforementioned judgment that the Tribunals entrusted with the task of adjudicating labour dispute where delay may lead to misery and jeopardize industrial peace, should decide all issues in dispute at the same time without trying some of them as preliminary issue. Now when we go through the award of the Labour Court, it is apparent that he framed the following four issues : - -