JAYANTA KUMAR BISWAS, J. - (1.) The petitioners in this writ petition dated October 5, 2007 are aggrieved by the decision of the Screening Committee "(Constituted under the Labour Department Resolution No. 507-IR dated May 15, 1998)" dated July 27, 2007, Annexure P3 at p.37, that, on the facts, they would not be entitled to financial assistance under the scheme "FAWLOI" with effect from October 1, 2005.
(2.) By the Labour Department Resolution No. 506-IR dated May 14, 1998 (not No. 507-IR dated May 15, 1998 as wrongly mentioned in the impugned decision) and which was subsequently amended by the Labour Department Notification No. 1272-IR dated October 12, 1998, the state government introduced a scheme called "Scheme for Financial Assistance to the Workers in Locked-out Industrial units (FAWLOI)." The scheme was introduced for providing financial assistance at the rate of Rs. 500 per month with effect from April 1, 1998 to the industrial workers thrown out of employment due to prolonged lockout, suspension of work, or closure in industrial units in the state. Life of the scheme was extended from time to time.
(3.) The Labour Department, Government of West Bengal publishes a document with a view to giving the readers thereof an idea of the strengths and weaknesses in the administration of Labour Laws in the state and about the priority areas of actions. In the documents published from time to time, and also in the one published for the year 2007, while dealing with the cotton textile industry, the department mentioned that Shine Up Fibres Ltd., the employer of the members of the first petitioner and the other petitioners, one of the important private sector units, had subjected its workmen to a lockout; and that "no tangible progress could be achieved" till the date of publication of the document "towards reopening" of the unit "in spite of intervention of the conciliation machinery.";