Punjab Tractors Workers Union (Regd.) vs The Presiding Officer, Industrial Tribunal, Punjab, Chandigarh and Another

Ajay Tewari, J.—This petition has been filed against the award dated 10.07.1991 passed by the Presiding Officer, Industrial Tribunal, Punjab, wherein the lock out declared by respondent No. 2-M/s Swaraj Tractor Division of Punjab Tractors Limited, S.A.S. Nagar (Mohali) was challenged with the ancillary prayer that in case it is found to be unlawful, the amount of compensation payable to the workmen, therefore.

Learned counsel for the Industrial Tribunal states that the lock out declared by the private respondent namely M/s Swaraj Tractor Division of Punjab Tractors Limited, S.A.S. Nagar (Mohali) could not be declared unlawful. To hold mis he relied upon the settlement which was subsequently arrived at between the workmen and the employer in which the representative of the unions condemned the violence. Learned counsel further contends that the union gave the assurance that the workmen would not involve meme-selves in such like activities in the future.

In my opinion, this reasoning is unexceptionable. Once it has been accepted by the workmen themselves that they had indulged in violence, a declaration of lock out cannot be held to be illegal. Consequently, this petition is dismissed.