- (1.) IN this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution, the petitioner which is an Employees' Union challenges the validity and correctness of the notice Annexure-2, dated June 28, 1983, issued by respondent No. 3, viz. the Managing Director, Rajasthan Small-Scale Industrial Corporation Limited. By the impugned notice Annexure-2, the Management of the Corporation decided to close down its one unit, namely, Furniture Making Centre, Jaipur, w. e. f. July 1, 1983.
(2.) MATERIAL facts stated in short are that the Rajasthan Small-Scale Industries Corporation Ltd. , Jaipur is an industry organising and managing many industrial establishments employing nearly 3,000 workmen. One of the establishments was that of Furniture Making Centre at Jaipur. Relations between the workmen employed in Furniture Making Centre and the ment did not remain cordial on account of the submission of a charter of demands (Annexure-4a) on 28. 8,1980 by the petitioner-Union. In order to victimise the workmen of the Furniture Making Centre, ment decided to close down this unit and issued notice Annexure-2 on 28. 6. 1983. It is alleged that the said notice was malicious and motivated to victimise the workmen. It amounts to unfair labour practice. On one hand the Corporation was closing one of its units, namely, the Furniture Making Centre and on the other hand, it was making devices to give employment to 1,000 persons. The closure of the Furniture Making Centre will result in the termination of the services of 31 workmen mentioned in Annexure- 1. The closure is bad and illegal. It amounts to retrenchment of the workmen employed in the Furniture Making Centre. This retrenchment is not valid because the provisions of Section 25-F and Section 25-N of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (for brevity 'the Act') have not been complied with. The closure is also bad because the provisions of Section 25-FFF have not been complied with. No compensation of any sort under the Act has been paid or offered to the workmen. The relief claimed is that notice Annexure-2 be quashed and the retrenchment of the workmen made in consequence of it be set aside.
(3.) THE petition was opposed tooth and nail by the ment of the Corporation. It was contended that it is not a case of retrenchment but is of clear closure. The Furniture Making Centre was closed on account of the heavy losses in that unit. The provisions of Section 25-N of the Act are not applicable because only 31 persons are employed in the Furniture Making Centre. Compensation payable to each individual workmen of Furniture Making Centre in accordance with the provisions of Sections 25-F and 25-FFF by means of bank drafts was tendered to each of them but the concerned workmen refused to accept the bank drafts and the notice.;