Chandrachud, C. J. - (1.) The appellant was appointed as a Dresser in the Medical Department of the Steel Authority of India, formerly the Bokaro Steel Plant Ltd. On March 1, 1975 he was dismissed from service as a result of a domestic inquiry on charges of misconduct consisting of absence from duty, falsification of entries in the registers, destruction of records, etc. Since an industrial dispute was pending in the Labour Court, Bokaro, between the management and its workmen, an application was filed by the management under Section 33 (2) (b) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, seeking approval of the Labour Court, Chota Nagpur, to the order of dismissal passed against the appellant. The decision of that application was partly in favour of the appellant and partly against him. By a judgment dated November 16, 1976, the Labour Court held that (i) the domestic inquiry was invalid because, the Chief Medical Officer of Bokaro Steel Ltd. was neither competent to issue the chargesheet nor to constitute the Enquiry Committee which held the appellant guilty of the charges framed against him; but, that (ii) the management should be given an opportunity to adduce evidence to justify the order of dismissal.
(2.) The appellant filed a writ petition (No. CWJC 336 of 1976) against the second pan of the Labour Court's order, his contention being that the management should not be allowed to lead evidence to justify the order of dismissal. The High Court issued a Rule on that writ petition and granted stay of further proceedings in the Labour Court. The management filed a writ petition (No. CWJC 27 of 1977) against the first part of the order of the Labour Court by which it was held that the enquiry was vitiated. The High Court of Patna, Ranchi Bench, dismissed both the writ petitions by a judgment dated April 26, 1978.
(3.) Being aggrieved by the judgment of the High Court which resulted in the dismissal of its writ petition, the management filed Civil Appeal No. 1682(1) of 1978 in this Court, complaining of the finding of the High Court that it was not competent to the Chief Medical Officer to chargesheet the appellant or to constitute the Enquiry Committee. The appeal was dismissed by this Court on July 23, 1980. . The finding of the Labour Court and the High Court that the enquiry which resulted in the dismissal of the appellant was vitiated, was upheld by this Court.;