VYAS, J. - (1.) THE present writ petition has been filed by the petitioner against the order dtd. 13. 8. 2002 (Annex. 3) by which the appropriate Government refused to refer the matter to the Labour Court for adjudication on the ground that the petitioner has tendered resignation.
(2.) BRIEF facts of the case as narrated by the petitioner in the petitioner are that the petitioner was appointed as watchman after regular process of selection on temporary basis. After the petitioner was so appointed, another employee of the Department started exerting pressure on the petitioner that in case he wants to be confirmed in service, he should pay a sum of Rs. 1,00,000/- else his services will be terminated during probation by holding that the certificate of Education submitted by the petitioner is forged. It is also alleged in the petition that he was not having the amount as demanded by him, therefore, Shri Chachra obtained resignation letter from the petitioner in the month of October, 2000 and informed the petitioner that in case the petitioner does not pay the entire amount by December, 2000, his service will be dispensed with on the basis of aforesaid resignation letter. However, since the petitioner did not pay the amount demanded, the aforesaid resignation letter was submitted by Shri Chachra and same was immediately accepted. Further case of the petitioner is that he immediately raised industrial dispute before the conciliation officer. The conciliation proceedings failed and the Conciliation Officer submitted failure report to the appropriate Government. The Appropriate Government, in turn vide order dtd. 13. 8. 2002 declined to refer the matter by going into merits of the case stating that the petitioner has submitted resignation letter which was duly accepted on 1. 1. 2001. In this writ petition, the main submission of the learned counsel for the petitioner is that once the failure report was received, it was obligatory duty of the appropriate Government to refer the matter to the Labour Court for adjudication because the appropriate Government is required to examine whether the dispute is in existence or not. It is not open for the Appropriate Government to examine the merits of the case. The learned counsel for the petitioner also submits that the petitioner has disputed submission of resignation and he has clearly stated that the same has been obtained by the employee of LIC under threat and duress and thus, the appropriate Government was not required to go into merits of the case and when the factum of submission of resignation has been disputed by the petitioner, the same was required to be established by tendering evidence and the appropriate Government has no jurisdiction to decline to refer the matter to the Labour Court and hence the order dtd. 13. 8. 2002 (Annex. 3) is without jurisdiction. It has also been submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 is benevolent legislation and the same has been enacted in order to protect the rights of the employees from mighty employer. Thus once the industrial dispute has been raised by the employee, the appropriate Government should refer the matter to the Labour Court for adjudication.
(3.) REPLY to the writ petition was filed by the respondents and it has been submitted by the learned counsel for the respondents that the appropriate Government was required to see as to whether prima facie industrial disputes exists or not and since in the present case, the appropriate Government did not find any case in favour of the petitioner, therefore, the matter was not referred to the Labour Court and hence no interference be called for in the impugned order dtd. 13. 8. 2002 (Annex. 3 ). Heard the learned counsel for the parties and examined and scanned the material available on record. A bare perusal of the order dtd. 13. 8. 2002 (Annex. 3) reveals that the matter was not referred to the Labour Court for the reason that the petitioner himself has tendered resignation which was accepted on 1. 1. 2001 and hence no Industrial dispute subsists. ;