S. B. Sinha, J. - (1.) Leave granted.
(2.) Respondent was an employee of Eastern Coal Fields Limited, Appellant No. 1 herein in the Mugma Area, in the district of Dhanbad, Jharkhand. The General Manager of the area, whose office is also situated at Mugma was his appointing and disciplinary authority. The services of the respondent were terminated at Mugma. He filed a writ application before the Calcutta High Court. As he was serving in the Mugma Area and the office of the General Manager was situated at Mugma which is in the State of Jharkhand, a preliminary objection was raised in regard to the jurisdiction of the Calcutta High Court. In Supplort of the said objection, reliance was placed upon a decision of a learned Single Judge in N.N. Singh vs. Coal India Limited (C.O. No. 5869 (W) of 1994.
(3.) The learned Single Judge, however, disagreed with the said view and referred the matter to the Division Bench. The Division Bench by a judgment and order dated 26.03.2003 opined that the Calcutta High Court had no territorial jurisdiction to entertain the said writ petition stating : "..........In this case the Division Bench relying on an observation of the learned Single Judge held that since the registered office of Eastern Coalfields Ltd. is situated at Sanctoria, Burdwan within the territorial jurisdiction of this Honble Court which is a necessary party and also the order of approval for dismissal was ultimately obtained from the Director, Personnel of the Eastern Coalfields Ltd., whose office is at the said registered office, the writ petition can be maintained before the Calcutta High Court. Therefore, this case was essentially decided on facts, but there is no such averments in the petition that the order of termination, passed by the General Manager, Badjna Colliery, Mugma Area, Dhanbad had obtained any prior approval from the head office at Calcutta. Therefore, this decision of the Division Bench of this Court does not held the writ petitioner/ respondent in this case. As per the three Apex Court decisions, referred to above, cause of action is decisive of the matter for acquiring territorial jurisdiction to decide the matter. Simply because the head office of the company is at Calcutta is not decisive of the matter as held in the case of Oil and Natural Gas Commission Vs. Utpal Kumar Basu (supra) because that would not give a cause of action to the party. Cause of action is a bundle of facts which decides the territorial jurisdiction of the Court, if any of the cause of action has arisen to the party within the jurisdiction of Calcutta High Court then the High Court at Calcutta will have jurisdiction to decide the matter. Simply because a head office of the company is within the territorial limits of the Calcutta High Court, that will not give jurisdiction to the Calcutta High Court unless cause of action arises within the territorial jurisdiction of Calcutta High Court." ;