The Hindu : Labour dept. order on interim relief to textile workers quashed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 02, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu

Labour dept. order on interim relief to textile workers quashed

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI OCT. 1. The Madras High Court has quashed a September 13, 2001 Labour Department order awarding interim relief and a lumpsum payment to nearly two lakh textile mill workers pending a final decision by the Industrial Tribunal.

Justice P.K. Misra, who heard over 800 writ petitions representing about 650 mill managements challenging the impugned GO no. 690, allowed them saying: "The Government has already constituted a special tribunal to deal with the industrial dispute. It shall deal with the matter, including any interim application, as quickly as possible in accordance with the law''.

The judge, however, dismissed another batch of petitions, which challenged another government order, issued the same day, referring the labour dispute to the designated Industrial Tribunal for adjudication. Mr. Justice Misra said those writ petitions had no merit.

According to the petitioner-mills, the Government could not issue an order of reference without calling the managements to participate in conciliation proceedings initiated under Section 12 of the Industrial Disputes Act.

They also questioned the rationale behind classifying the 1,600-odd mills in the State into two categories, while `historically there were four categories' depending upon their spindlage.

The order had cast a huge financial liability on the mills, which were already reeling under severe recession.

However, the Additional Advocate-General, R. Muthukumaraswamy, sought to dismiss the petitions filed by the managements, submitting that under Section 10(1) of the Act, even if they apprehended any dispute, the Government could refer it to the tribunal.

"It is not necessary that there should be a conciliation failure report before passing an order''.

Moreoever, there was nothing arbitrary in the order, since the interim compensation was to be adjusted in the final wages payable to the workers.

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