- (1.) THIS order will dispose of four writ petitions all of which are directed against the award dated June 2, 1989 of the Industrial Tribunal, Punjab whereby reference 19 of 1977 made to it under Section 10 of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (for short, the Act) was partly decided in favour of the management and partly in favour of the wormen whereas the other two references were decided against the workmen. Civil Writ Petition 5400 of 1991 has been filed by the management and the same was admitted to a regular hearing. The workmen filed three Special Leave Petitions in the Supreme Court against the impugned award which have been transmitted to this Court to be treated as writ petitions and these are being disposed of along with Civil Writ Petition 5408 of 1991 in terms of the order passed by the Apex Court.
(2.) AMRITSAR Sugar Mills Company Ltd. (hereinafter called the company) is a public limited company incorporated under the provisions of Companies Act, 1956 and it was carrying on several activities with its registered office at Amritsar in the State of Punjab. Amritsar Oil Works, Amritsar (hereinafter called the factory) was one of the factories of the company and it was engaged in the manufacture of vanaspati. Since the factory remained closed for a period exceeding three months, the Central Government in exercise of its powers under Section 18aa of the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951 (to be called hereinafter as the 1951 Act) took over the management of the factory by a notification dated September 13, 1974 and appointed a Board of Management to run the same subject to the terms and conditions mentioned in the notification. The Board was to hold office for a period of five years from the date of the notification and the constitution of the Board was also mentioned therein. The order taking over the factory was to have effect for a period of five years commencing from the date of its publication in the official gazette. After six days of the publication of the aforesaid notification the Central Government in exercise of its powers under Sub-section (1) of Section 18-FB of the 1951 Act declared on September 19, 1974 that the enactments or portions thereof as specified in the Schedule to the order shall not apply to the factory. This order was to remain in force for a period of one year commencing from the date of its publication in the official gazette. The enactments referred to in the schedule were as under:- (1) The Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946. (2) The following Chapters and Sections of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, namely:i) Chapter V A ii) Section 33 Cp2 iii) Section 9 A It is common ground between the parties that even though the management of the factory was taken over by the Central Government on September 13, 1974 yet the Government of India started running the factory only with effect from December 1, 1974. Again it is not in dispute that the period for which it was taken over came to an end on September 13, 1979 and thereafter the period was being extended from time to time till October 19, 1982. The orders extending the period of take over were challenged by the company in a writ petition filed in the Delhi High Court which was allowed on September 3, 1982 and this decision is reported in AIR 1983 Delhi 337. The Parliament then stepped in and enacted the Amritsar Oil Works (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1982 (hereinafter called the Acquisition Act) with effect from October 19, 1982. By virtue of Section 3 of the Acquisition Act the factory and the right, title and interest of the company in relation thereto stood transferred to and vested in the Central Government. Under Section 5 of the Acquisition Act the Central Government had the option to direct that instead of the factory and the right, title and interest of the company in relation thereto continuing to vest in it shall vest in a Government company on a date to be notified by the Central Government not being a date earlier than October 19, 1982. The Central Government then by a notification dated April 23, 1984 issued under Section 5 of the Acquisition Act declared that the factory and the right, title and interest of the company in relation thereto shall vest in Hindustan Vegetable Oil Corporation Ltd. , Amritsar which is a Government company.
(3.) ON taking over the management of the factory on September 13, 1974 the Central Government discontinued with the services of some of the employees of the factory while the others continued in the employment of the company under the new management but they were given fresh employment. In other words, the services of all the employees were interrupted/put to an end on the date of taking over of the management and thereafter some of the employees were given fresh employment. The employees whose services were discontinued raised an industrial dispute claiming reinstatement with back wages. The names of these employees are mentioned in list 'a' appended to reference 19 of 1977. The previous management had laid off a large number of its workmen with effect from April 23, 1973 and they too raised a dispute regarding the validity of lay off. The workmen who were given fresh employment also claimed that they should be given the benefit of their previous service rendered by them prior to the take over. The workmen also claimed bonus for the year 1971-72 to 197475 (four years ). All these disputes were referred to the Industrial Tribunal, Punjab for adjudication and the reference was registered as reference 19 of 1977. The Workmen also claimed bonus for the year 1975-76 at the rate of 20% and this dispute as referred was registered as reference 8 of 1978. The company through its new management terminated the services of 39 workmen who contested the same alleging that their termination was not justified. In addition, two other workmen namely Kulwant Rai and Dalip Singh were also removed from service. The validity of their termination as also of the 39 workmen was referred to the Tribunal and disposed of by common award that has been impugned in the present petitions. During the pendency of the proceedings before the Tribunal it impleaded M/s Hindustan Vegetable Oil Corporation Ltd. as one of the respondents in referrence 19 of 1977. It may be recalled that the factory and the right, title and interest of the company in relation thereto had vested in this Government company by virtue of the notification issued by the Central Government under Section 5 of the Acquisition Act. Thereafter on an application filed by the new management of the factory pleading that the liability, if any towards the workmen was that of the company as it pertained to the period prior to the take over, the Tribunal as per its order dated February 20, 1987 also impleaded the company as a respondent in reference 19 of 1977.;