AJNALA COOP. SUGAR MILLS LTD. v. SUKHRAJ SINGH

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

DR. ARIJIT PASA YAT, J. Leave granted.

D I. Challenge in this appeal is to the order passed by Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissing the writ petition filed by the appellant. In the writ petition challenge wast~ the award of the Labour Court, Amritsar (in short 'Labour Court')dated 27.112002, whereby alleged termination of services of the respondent was held to be illegal for want of compliance with the requirements of Section 25-F of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (in short the 'Aet'). The respondent was directed ~o be reinstated with continuity of service_ with back wages .. The appeUant's stand was that the workman had not completed 240 days in 12 months preceding the date of termination of the service and, therefore, the management was not required to comply with the provisions of Section 25~F of the Act. High Court noted that the workman had joined the servic::e in 199 L The services were dispensed with in the year

1993. It was noted that the management which was required to maintain the muster rolls failed to produce the records to support its contention that during this period the workman had not completed the requisite period of240 days. Accordingly, the award passed by the Labour Court was found to be in order and writ petition was d_ismissed. G

2Copy pinpoint2. Learned counsel for the appellant submitted that the workman had not worked for more than 240 days in thepreceding 12 months. Except bare assertion no material .was produced. On the contrary the appellant has categorically stated that the respondent had not worked for more than. 240 days. II

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3Copy pinpoint3. In this connection reference was made to the assertion made before the Labour Court that the workman was engaged on daily wager basis and his services were only seasonal. It was specifically asserted that after th~ season was over the respondent workman did not tum up and he had not completed 240 days of service. He was not permanent employee of the appellant and, therefore, reference was not maintainable. Since the workman was employed only for seasonal work, his services were not to be continued after the season was over. •/

4Copy pinpoint4. Learned counsel for the respondent on the other hand submitted that the Labour Court as well as the High Court referred to the material on record and categorically held that the appellant had been working for more than 240 days. Certain documents in this regard were referred to. c

5Copy pinpoint5. This Court in several cases has held that the workman has to prove that the he has worked for more than 240 days. (See: Range Forest Officer v. S. T. Hadimani, [2002) 3 SCC 25; Essen Deinki v. Rajiv Kumar, [2002) 8 SCC 400 and Batala Coop. Sugar Mills Ltd. . v. Sowaran Singh, [2005) 8 SCC 48 I). D _..,_

6Copy pinpoint6. In Batala Coop. Sugar Mills (supra) it was observed as under:

"We find that the High Court's judgment is unsustainable on more than one count. In Marinda Coop. Sugar Mills Ltd v. Ram Kishan and Ors., [1995) 5 SCC 653 it was observed as follows: E "4. It would thus be clear that the respondents were not working throughout the season. They worked during crushing seasons only. The respondents wei:e taken into work for the season and consequent to closure of the season, they ceased to work. ·'

5. The question is whether such a cessation would amount to retrenchment. Since it is only a seasonal work, the respondents cannot be said to have been retrenched in view of what is stated in clause (bb) of Section 2(oo) of the Act. Under these circumstances, we are of the opinion that the view taken by the Labour Court and the High Court is illegal. However, the appellant is directed to maintain a register for all workmen engaged during the seasons enumerated hereinbefore and when the new season starts the appellant should make a publication in neighbouring 'l places in which the respondents normally live and if they would report for duty, the appellant would engage them in accordance with seniority and exigency of work. H

p. 782 Copy page pinpoint

7Copy pinpoint7. Learned ~ounsel for the appellant is correct that it was for the workman to establish that he had worked for more than 240 days. LeamCd counsel for the respondent has referred to certain materials which have been filed as additional doc~tnents in this case. These were not part of the records before the Labour Court or the High Court. It appears that the High Court did not examine the issues in the proper perspective as to whether Labour Court B did not specifically deal with the stand of the appellant that the workman had not completed more than 240 days as he was working as a seasonal daily wager and after the season was over there was no engagement. 'v

8Copy pinpoint8. In the circumstances we set aside the order of the High Court and C remit the matter to the Labour Court for fresh consideration.

9Copy pinpoint9. Considering the fact that the matter is pending since long, we request the Labour Court to dispose of the matter within three months from the date of receipt of this order after due notice to the parties.

D I 0. The appeal is disposed of accordingly with no order as to costs.

RP. Appeal disposed of.