AMRESHWAR PRATAP SAHI,J. - (1.) These two intra Court appeals arise out of a common judgment in two writ petitions filed by the Textile Labour Union and some of its member Workmen of Elgin Mill Unit Nos.1 and 2, Kanpur and Kanpur Textile Limited, Kanpur working as Clerks and other subordinate staff. The respective Union and their members staked a claim through these two writ petitions for a mandamus commanding the appellant and the respondent nos.7 and 8, the Deputy Labour Commissioner and the Union of India, through Secretary Ministry of Textiles to enforce the document dated 04.12.1992 described as a settlement contained as annexure-3 to both the writ petitions, and to extend all benefits as per the terms of the said document to all the members of the staff of the category of Clerks and other subordinate staff working in the three mills by revising their pay scale etc. and also to pay them difference of salary and other emoluments.
(2.) The litigative history of the present dispute has its genesis in the dispute that was raised by the employees of several textile mills of West Bengal, Assam, Bihar and Orissa claiming parity of wages with their counterparts in the corporate office on principle of equal pay for equal work. The National Textile Corporation had been established and therefore a writ petition was filed before the Calcutta High Court by the Employees Association of the National Textile Corporation which was disposed of by a learned Single Judge against which the National Textile Corporation filed a Special Leave to Appeal before the Apex Court. A few other writ petitions and Special Leave Petitions were directly filed before the Hon'ble Supreme Court including Writ Petition No.161 of 1987, Sri Shiv Verma and others v. Union of India and others where the Workmen of British India Corporation Limited were also represented. The three mills with which we are presently concerned were being run by the British India Corporation Limited which additionally also ran the Cawnpore Woolen Mill popularly known as Lalimli Woolen Mill. It is in the said Writ Petition No.161 of 1987 that an application was filed informing the Apex court about the document described as a settlement dated 04.12.1992 with a prayer to dismiss the petition as withdrawn which is the fulcrum of the dispute between the parties.
(3.) It is undisputed that on the aforesaid submissions on behalf of the petitioners representing the Workmen of British India Corporation Limited in Writ Petition No.161 of 1987, the Hon'ble Supreme Court passed the following order on 11.03.1997 : "Learned counsel for petitioners Nos.4, 5 and 6, namely Virendra Singh, Har Sharad Singh and Yogesh Narayan Bajpai submits that these petitioners who have filed this writ petition on behalf of the workmen of respondents no.5, British India Corporation Ltd. in the textile Mills known as (1) Cawnpore Woolen Mills Branch (Lal Imli), Kanpur (II) Elgin Mills Company Ltd., Mill No.1, Kanpur (III) Elgin Mills Company Ltd., Kanpur and (IV) Cawnpore Textile Ltd., Kanpur do have any surviving grievance since they have entered into a settlement dated 4th December, 1992 with which they are fully satisfied. Learned counsel further submits that the writ petition to this extent in respect of the workmen employed in the aforesaid four mills of the British India Corporation Ltd. Be, therefore, dismissed as withdrawn. Accordingly, this writ petition in so far as it is petitioners Nos.4, 5 and 6 in respect of the workmen employed in the four mills of the British India Corporation Limited is dismissed as withdrawn.";