MOOLCHAND KHARAITI RAM HOSPITAL AND AYURVEDIC RESEARCH INSTITUTE Vs. SECRETARY LABOUR GOVERNMENT OF NCT OF DELHI RAJPUR ROAD DELHI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition represents the second salvo of litigation in respect of a dispute between the Management and the, Workmen of the Moolchand Kharati Ram Hospital, Delhi, consequent upon an incident that occurred on 11/2/1995. The Management maintains that the Workmen had participated in an illegal strike on that day, whilst the workmen contend that they were 'locked-out'. The first round of litigation commenced with the filing of C.W.P. 1009 of 1995 by the Management, in which it assailed the legality of the Terms of Reference viz. ~ "Whether the workmen shown in Annexure A are entitled to wages for the lockout period with effect from 11/2/1995 if so, what directions are necessary in this respect?" The Workmen had filed C.W.P. 2454/95 for restraining the Management from prosecuting the disciplinary proceedings against some of the Workmen, on the ground of their participation in the alleged strike. My Learned Brother Hon'ble Dalveer Bhandari, J. allowed the Management's petition and dismissed the writ petition filed by the Workmen. He observed as follows in Shri Moolchand Kharati Ram Hospital and Ayurvedic Research Institute v. Labour Commissioner/Secretary (Labour), National Capital Territory, and others, 1996 (2) L.L.N. 226 :

(2.) The workmen unsuccessfully appealed before the Division Bench (see Shri Moolchand Kharati Ram Hospital Karamchari Union v. Labour Commissioner and other, 1997 1 AD (Delhi) 134) which followed the decision of the Full Bench in M/s. India Tourism Development Corporation, New Delhi v. Delhi Administration, Delhi and others, 1982 Lab. I.C. 1309, and extracted the following passage from this judgment:

(3.) Not content with this rejection, the workmen even approached the Hon'ble Supreme Court, but the view of the Single Judge as well as the Division Bench of this Court was upheld. The Appeal titled as MoolchanJ Kharati Ram Hospital K. Union Labour Commissioner and Company, 2001 (1) L.L.N. 920 was disposed of on 19/9/2000 in these words: