Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 – s.10(1) – State Government made reference u/s.10(1) of the Act to Industrial Tribunal to decide the various demands raised by the respondent – Industrial Tribunal decided the reference ex parte against the appellant – Writ petition by appellant – Single Judge of the High Court allowed the writ petition – Writ appeal by the respondent – Division Bench of High Court allowed the appeal of respondent in the absence of appellant – Review petition was also dismissed – On appeal, held: Since inception, appellant did not get opportunity to contest the matter because they did not have any knowledge of the proceedings – Every party to a lis has a right to contest the case on merits, subject to certain exceptions provided in law – Thus, case remanded to the Industrial Tribunal.
Allowing the appeals, the Court
HELD: 1. The reasons for remand are: First, it is not in dispute that the appellant did not get any opportunity to contest the reference before the Industrial Tribunal and had to suffer adverse award ex parte; Second, the cause shown for their absence before the Industrial Tribunal constitutes a sufficient cause and entitles the appellant to claim an opportunity to contest the reference on merits; Third, this is not a case where the appellant appeared before the Tribunal and thereafter stopped appearing and proceeded ex parte. In other words, since inception, the appellant did not get any opportunity to contest the matter because they did not have any knowledge of the proceedings; Fourth, every party to a lis has a right to contest the case on merits, of course, subject to certain well known exceptions provided in law. However, so far as the appellant’s case is concerned no such exception is noticed, which may disentitle them to contest the reference on merits; and lastly, substantial justice demands that having regard to the controversy, which is subject matter of reference, both the parties to the lis are entitled for an opportunity to contest the case on the merits. It is for all these reasons appeals are allowed and the case remanded to the Industrial Tribunal. [Paras 9 and 10][720-F-H; 721-A]
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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