PHULBARI TEA ESTATE v. ITS WORKMEN
Citation: [1960] 1 S.C.R. 32; 1959 INSC 67
Court: Supreme Court of India
Bench: BHUVNESHWAR PRASAD SINHA , P.B. GAJENDRAGADKAR, K.N. WANCHOO
Judgment date:
Case summary
1959 INSC 67. Supreme Court of India judgment dated 1959-05-06. PHULBARI TEA ESTATE v. ITS WORKMEN. Read the judgment and case details on LawSphereX.
Judgment text
32 SUPREME COUI~T REPORTS [1960(1)] PHULBARI TEA ESTATE I959 v. May6. ITS WORKMEN (B. P. SINHA, P. B. GAJENDRAGADKAR and K. N. w ANCHOO, JJ. ) Industrial Dispute-Tribunal-Question of competency-When can be raised-Dismissal of u1orkmen on enqu£ry-Rule of natural justice-Defect in procedure, if curable -Industrial Disputes Act (I4 of r947), s. 7. Two workmen Das and another were arrested by the police on the complaint of the appellant company for an alleged theft. The manager held an enquiry and dismissed Das from service for gross misconduct. At the enquiry, Das stated that he had nothing to say and knew nothing about the theft. Certain persons whose statements had been recorded by the manager at the investigation stage in the absence of Das, were present at the said enquiry. Das was told to ask those persons what they had to say, though he was . ' neither supplied with the copies of the statements made by them nor the statements were read over to him at the time of the enquiry.
Das replied that he would not put any questions to them. Thereupon these witnesses were asked whether the evidence they had given before the manager was correct, and if not, they were at liberty to amend it, to which they replied that the evidence they had given was correct. Some time later, the Magistrate on the final report of the police discharged Das. Thereafter the Union had the matter referred to the Tribunal. Before the Tribunal the company produced only the statements of the witnesses but did not produce the witnesses themselves. The Tribunal found in favour of the workman. The co1npany came up in appeal by special leave to the Supreme Court, where, for the first time it raised the question of the qualification and competency of the one member Tribunal under s. 7 of the Act. Held, that the question whether the Tribunal was a compe-tent one under s.
7 of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, prior to the amending Act 36 of 1956, must be raised before the Tribunal itself as it was a matter of investigation and could not be raised for the first time before the Supreme Court. Held further, that the basic principle of natural justice in an enquiry was that the opponent must be given the opportunity of ... questjoning the witnesses after knowing in full what they had to state against him. The witnesses on whom the party relied should generally be examined in the presence of the opponent and he must also be informed about the material sought to be used against him, and given an opportunity to explain it. S. C. R. SUPREME COURT REPORT8 x959 Union of India v. T. R. Varma r1958l S. C. R. 499, followed. New Prakash Transport Co. Ltd. ,.. ). 'cir- S1110arna Transport Phulbari Tea Estate Co. Ltd. [1957] S. C. R. 98. referred to. v. Held, further, that if there was defect in the conduct of thC' Its Workn,.
n enquiry by the employer it could be cured if all the relevant evidence including the witnesses who were not examined in the presence of the workman were produced before the Tribunal. thereby giving the party an opportunity to cross-examine them, and leaving it to the Tribnnal to consider tlw evidence and decide the case on merits. M/s. Sasa M-usa Sugar Worlls (P) Ltd. ''· ShobratiKhan C. As. ~os. 746 & 747 of r957 decided on zg-4-1959, followed. CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 205of1958. Appeal by special leave from the judgment and order dated October 23, 1956, of the Industrial Tribunal, Assam in Reference No. 16 of 1956. M. 0. 8etalvad, Attorney-General for Indio. , S. N . . Zl! ukherjee and B. N. Ghosh, for the appellant. 0. B. A. garwala and K. P. G~tpta. , for the respon-dents. 1959. l. \fay 6. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by W anchoo . f. WANCHOO J. -This is an appeal by special leave in an . industrial matt. er.
The appellant is the Phulbari Tea Estate (hereinafter called the company). The case relates to the dismissal of one workman namely, B. N. Das (hereinafter called Das), which had been taken up by the Assam Chah Karmchari Sangh, which is a registered trade union. A reference was made by the Government of Assam on March 8, 1956, to the Industrial Tribunal on the question whether the dismissal of Das was justified; and if not, whether he was entitled to reinstatement with or without com- -pensation or any other relief in lieu thereof. Das was dismissed by the company on March 12, 1955. The charge against him was that on the night of February 6/7, 1955, he along with one Samson, also an employee of the company, committed theft of two wheels com-plete with tyres and tubes from the company's lorry, which amounted to gross misconduct under the Stand-ing Orders. The case was reported to the police and Estate Das as well as Samson were arrested.
Das remained in jail up to February 25, 1955, when he was released on bail. He reported for duty on February 28 ; but the manager suspended him for ten days from March 1. Thereafter, he was served with a charge-sheet on March 10, 1955, asking him to show cause why he should not be dismissed for gross misconduct as men-tioned above. He gave a reply on March 11, that as the case was sub judice in the criminal court, the question of dismissal did not arise at that stage and the allegations against him would have to be proved in the court. On March 12, the manager held an enquiry, which was followed by dismissal, on that very day. We shall mention later in detail what happened at the enquiry, as that is the main point which requires consideration in this appeal. To continue the nar-rative, however, the police submitted a final report and the magistrate discharged Das on March 23, 1955.
Thereafter, his case was taken up by the union and eventually reference was made to the Tribunal on March 8, 1956. The Tribunal came to the conclusion that the dismissal of Das was not justified on the ground of proper procedure not having been followed and also for want of legal evidence. It went on to say that normally Das would have been entitled to reinstatement but in the peculiar circumstances of this case it was of opinion that he should be granted the alternative relief for compensation. Consequently, it ordered that Das would be entitled to his pay and allowances from February 28, to March 11, 1955 and full pay and allowances from March 12, till the date of payment. It also ordered that he would be entitled to fifteen day's pay for every completed year of service along with all benefits that accrued to him till the date of final payment. This award was given on October 23, 1956, and was in due course published and came into force.
Thereupon, there was an application to this Court for special leave to appeal, which was granted; and that is how the matter has come up before us. Two points have been urged before us on behalf of the company, namely- Ph 'b l t t 'b l (1) th e T r1 una was not a competen r1 una under s. 7 of the Industrial Disputes Act, No. XIV of 1947 (hereinafter called the Act) as it then stood; and (2) the award of the Tribunal is not sustainable in law as it shows as if the Tribunal was sitting in appeal on the enquiry held by the company, an f a<ldueing all relevant evidence on which he relies, that the evidence of the opponent should bC' taken in his presence, and tha. t he should be given the opportunity of cro::;s,examining the witnesses exa. min-ed by that party, and that no materials should be relied on agairnit him without his being given an opportunity of explaining them.
" It will he immediately clear that these principles were not followed in the enquiry which took place on March 12, inasmuch as the witnesses on which the company relied were not examined in the presence of Das. It is true that the principles laid down in that case are not meant to be exhaustive. In another case New Prakf:tsh Transport Co. Ltd. v. New S'uwarna Transport Co. Ltd. ("), this Court held that " rule;; of natural justice vary \vith the varying con;;titutions of statutory bodies and the rules prescribed by the legis-lature under which they have to act, and the question whether in a particular case they have been contravened must be judged not by any preconceiv-ed notion of what they may be but in the light of the provisions of the relevant Act". In that case, it (I) (1958) S. C. R. 499, (~) (1957) S. C. R. 98. was held that "the reading out of the contents of the police report bv the Chairman at the hearing of the state J . .
, appeal was enough comphance with the rules of natural justice as there was nothing in the rules requiring a copy of it to be furnished to any of the parties. " That was, however, a case in which the police officer making the report was not required to be cross-examined; on the other hand, the party concerned was informed about the material sought to be used against him and was given an opportunity to explain it. The narration of facts as to what happened on March 12, which we have given above, shows that oven this was not done in this case, for there is no evidence that. copies of the statements of witnesses who had given evidence against Das were supplied to him or even that the statements made by the witnesses to the manager were read out, in extenso to Das before he was asked to question them.
In-these circumstances one of the basic principles of natural justice in an enquiry of this nature was not observed, and, therefore, the finding of the Tribunal that proper procedure had not been followed is justified and is not open to challenge. The defect in the conduct of the enquiry could have been cured if the company had produced the witnesses before the Tribunal and given an opportunity to Das to cross-examine them there. In Messrs. Basa Musa 1 Sugar Works (Private) Ltd. v. Shobrati Khan ( ), we had occasion to point out that even where the employer did not hold an enquiry before applying under s. 33 of the Act for permission to dismiss an employee, he could make good the defect by producing all relevant evidence which would hare been examined at the enquiry, before the tribunal, in which case the tribunal would consider the evidence and decide whether permission should be granted or not. The same principle would apply in case of adjudication under s.
15 of the Act, and if there was defect in the enquiry by the employer he could make good that <:J. efect by producing necessary evidence before the tribunal. But even that was not done in this case, for all that the company did (I) c. As. Nos. 746 & 74'1of1957 decided on 29-4-1959. before the Tribunal was to produce the statements x959 recorded by the manager during what we have called Phulbari Tea Estati investigation. This left the matters where they were v. .. .. and Das had never an opport. unity of questioning the Its Workmen witneRRes after knowing in full what they had stated Wanchoo J. against, him. In these circumstances we are of opinion that the fiw. ling of t. he •rrilmnal that the enquiry i11 this case was uot proper is correct and must Htand. 'Ve therefore dismiss tlw appeal. We should, I • howeYer, like to make it elear tlrnt the order of tlw Tribunal fixing grant of compcnsa,tion till the date of payment must be taken to be limited to the sum of Rs.
11,125, which has been deposited in this Court in pursuance of this Court's order of April 22, 1957 and Das will not be entitled t. o anything more, as further stay of payment was pursuant to the order of this Court. In the circumstances we are of opinion that the parties should hear their own eosts of thits Court. Appeal dismis8ed. THE I. ORD KRISHNA SUGAR MILV3 LTD. , 1959 AND ANOTHER May 6. v. THE UNION OF INDIA AND ANOTH"ll~R (and connected petition) (B. l:'. SINHA, . J AFER IMAM, ,J. L. KAP(TR, A. K. SARKAR, SUH"HA RAO AND M. HIDAYATULLAH, ,TJ. ) Constitution--Fundami:ntal Rights-Rcsirictions on-Reason-ableness, relei·anf. considerations for fudging-Enactment obliging sugar manufacturers to s11. pply sugar for export ,,f loss-Notijicat-ion tinder another enactment increasing price of sugar for internal sale for recouping loss-- Whether can be tulwn into consideration- Discrimination-Sitgar Export Promotion Act, I958 (30 of I958), ss. 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9-Constifation of India, Arts.
I4 and I9- Essential Commodities Act, I955 (IO of I955), s. 3--Sugar (Control) , • Order, I955. cl. 5· The petitioners challenged the constitutionality of the Sugar Export Promotion Act, 1958, which was enacted for the purpose of exporting sugar with a view to earning foreign exchange. The impugned Act imposed the following restrictions on the owners of
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