- (1.) Leave granted.
(2.) The appellant is a trade union espousing the cause of three workmen, viz. , V. Rajamanickam, N. Raghavan and M. Prabhakaran. The undisputed facts are that while the workmen were on strike, the management suddenly backed out from the settlement in reconciliation proceedings. As a consequence, the workmen started strike. On 14/3/1983 while the said workmen were standing at BPL Bus Stop on Pollachi Road, National Highway Diversion, they sighted the officers passing through the way and assaulted N. V. Subramanian and others. It is the case of the management that Rajamanickam, Raghavan and others threw stones and one of the stones hit Subramanian on the head and on the upper part of the right hand causing grievous injuries. It is also their case that Prabhakaran hit Subramanian with a stick. Thereafter, the management issued show-cause notice to the said workmen on 21/3/1983 alleging that the appellants had committed misconduct- The appellants denied the allegations and submitted their reply on 25/3/1983. On consideration of the reply, a charge-sheet was issued to the appellants on 12/4/1983 and an inquiry officer was appointed who submitted ex parte report on 19-4-1983. In consequence, the management dismissed them from service.
(3.) The appellants challenged the same in a reference under Section 10 of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. The Labour court in ID 4 of 1986, by its order dated 13/4/1987 set aside the punishment and directed reinstatement with 25% of back wages. In other words, it ordered deduction of 75% of back wages. The management filed a writ petition in the High court, The learned Single Judge in his order dated 31/10/1989 in OPs Nos. 4034 of 1988 and 3841 of 1989-EG set aside the award of the Labour court. On appeal, the division bench in Writ Appeal No. 475 of 1990 dated 22/8/1990confirmed the same. In the meanwhile, after the learned Single Judge had delivered the judgment, the appellants were dismissed on 3/11/1989. Thus this appeal by special leave.;