- (1.) The jurisdiction of the appropriate Government to refer a dispute relating to proposed shifting of Soorah Jute Mills from 102, Narkeldanga Main Road, Kolkata to Birlapur, 24-Parganas (South) to the Industrial Tribunal for adjudication under Section 10 of the Industrial Disputes Act 1947, has been challenged in this writ petition.
(2.) Incidentally an order passed by the Deputy Secretary to the Government of West Bengal prohibiting the continuance of suspension, i.e., lockout in the said unit of the said company, has also been challenged in this writ petition.
(3.) Soorah Jute Mill which is one of the oldest mills in the Jute Industry is in existence for more than 100 years at premises No. 102, Narkeldanga Main Road, Kolkata-700054. The petitioner has another Jute Mill, viz., Birla Jute Mill which was set up at Birlapur, 24-Parganas (S), West Bengal in 1919. For ensuring economic viability of the mills, the petitioner-company decided to shift the Soorah Mill from Narkeldanga to Birlapur with a view to merging the Soorah Jute Mills with Birla Jute Mill at Birlapur. The reasons for which the petitioner decided to shift Soorah Jute Mill from Narkeldanga to Birlapur, were disclosed by the company in its notice dated 16th March, 2004 being Annexure 'P-10' to this writ petition at page 51. The reasons are as follows :- (a) Soorah Jute Mill (SJM) is a small mill with a capacity of around 40 MT-42 MT/day. This, so far as Jute Mills go, is far from the minimum economic size. Generally, in the industry, viable jute mills are in the range of 80 MT-100 MT/day. (b) It has a limited product range, just hessian and sacking, with hardly any value addition and, barring some scrim cloth, there are no exports. (c) There is limitation for expansion, As it falls in the Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) area, building laws do not allow any further expansion, as construction/covered area as compared to the total area is more or less optimised as per the regulations of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation Laws. (d) The West Bengal Pollution Control Board has recently served notice to industries within the Metropolitan area, making it mandatory for them to switch over from coal fired boilers to oil fired ones for its requirement of steam. SJM has also received such notice. Accordingly, switch over from coal fired to oil fired was done at considerable cost leading to further increase of cost of production. (e) The restriction on the movement of trucks during the day times results in higher cost of production. Hence, the shifting of the mills to Birlapur will help reduce costs and provide a cleaner and better environment in the locality. (f) Being situated on a low lying land, during monsoon, the mill operations are frequently disrupted due to flooding of the main shop floor. (g) Due to shifting, the total capacity of Birla Jute Mill will increase and the product conversion cost, which is higher at Soorah, will come down as a result of operating with a higher capacity. As such, the company cannot stand in the present competitive market. Also, Birla Jute Mills has sufficient space and infrastructure facilities at Birlapur to take care of all of SJM's operational requirements in totality. It goes without saying that as a result of shifting, the Birlapur Unit becomes larger, made viable, with increased product flexibility and the transferred capacity can also be better utilised for increasing exports and improving the revenue of the Government.;