- (1.) Petitioner in this writ application has challenged the impugned order of the Principal Secretary of the Labour Department whereby the petitioner's prayer for exemption to its unit under Section 87 of the Employees' State Insurance Act, has been rejected.
(2.) The petitioner has assailed the order of rejection on several grounds including the grounds that the officer who had passed the order did not offer any reasonable opportunity to the petitioner of being heard. Further ground taken by the petitioner is that the discretion, as vested under Section 87 of the E.S.I. Act, has not been exercised in accordance with the principles of natural justice and without adverting to the other relevant facts on the basis of which the petitioner has claimed for exemption.
(3.) Upon hearing the preliminary submissions of the counsel for the parties, I infer that contentious issues are involved in the controversy raised in this writ application which need to be heard. As such, this writ application is admitted for hearing.;