Anoop Poulose And Ors vs Joint Labour Commissioner

The petitioners say that they were Drivers of Marthoma Educational Society, Kochi and that they were terminated from their services illegally, thus constraining them to raise disputes under Section 2(k) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act' for short) before the District Labour Officer, Ernakulam, on various dates in the year 2019.

The petitioners say that though a conciliation was attempted under Section 22(1) of the Act, no settlement could be arrived at; but that the Conciliation Officer has not intimated them of the closure of the file and appears to have done so 'behind their back'.

The petitioners, through their learned counsel, Smt.Vykhari K.U., further submitted that the fact of the closure of the conciliation was not intimated to them and that her clients came to aware of this only in the first week of November, 2020 during a settlement talk with the Management. She says that her clients, therefore, preferred statutory Appeals before the respondent on 11/11/2020, the copies of which have been produced on record as Exts.P1 to P4; and prayed that the same be directed to be taken up and disposed of at the earliest.

In response, the learned Senior Government Pleader - Shri.Ravi Krishnan, submitted that the statutory Appeals do not disclose when the proceedings were closed by the Conciliation Officer; but that if the petitioner only requires Exts.P1 to P4 to be taken up and disposed of by the respondent, there does not appear to be any legal impediment in doing so. He then prayed that this Court may not make any affirmative declarations as to the entitlement of the petitioners to any relief and leave it to be decided by the competent Authority, in terms of law.

In the afore circumstances, I order this writ petition to the limited extent of directing the respondent to take up Exts.P1 to P4 and dispose of the same, after affording an opportunity of being heard to the petitioners - either physically or through video conferencing - thus culminating in appropriate orders thereon, as expeditiously as is possible, but not later than two months from the date of receipt of a copy of this judgment.