Decision Of Single Bench Deciding Challenge To Industrial Tribunal's Order Is Appealable Before Division Bench: Patna High Court

Recently, the Patna High Court held that the Letters Patent Appeal (LPA) against the Single Judge's decision deciding the challenge to award rendered under Section 17-B of the Industrial Disputes Act (“ID Act”) would be maintainable.

The Court said that as per Clause 10 of the Letter Patent of Patna, there is no bar to the maintainability of the LPA against the decision of the Single Bench rendered against the challenge to award passed under Section 17-B of the ID Act.

Section 17B of the Act explicitly states that if the Labour Court orders the reinstatement of a worker and the employer decides to challenge this decision in a High Court, the employer must continue to pay the worker the full wages that were last received by them, along with any other maintenance allowance applicable to him, for the duration of the proceedings which are pending in the High Court, provided the worker was not employed elsewhere during that period.

In the present case, the Central Government Industrial Tribunal proceeded to pass an award against the Appellant under the ID Act. A writ petition was filed before the Single Bench against the Industrial Tribunal's decision. The petition was decided against the appellants.

Thereafter against the Single Bench's decision, the LPA was preferred before the Division Bench. The LPA was rejected on the note that the same is not maintainable against the Single Bench decision rendered against the challenge to the award of the Central Government Industrial Tribunal.

The Core issue involved in the present lis is whether L.P.A. against the order of the learned Single Judge is maintainable insofar as a challenge to the award of the Central Government Industrial Tribunal before the learned Single and further amenable under L.P.A. or not.

Answering in affirmation, the bench comprising Justice P. B. Bajanthri and Justice Alok Kumar Pandey while referring to the Supreme Court's judgment of Employer in Relation to Management of Central Mine Planning and Design Institute Ltd Versus Union of India (UOI) and others delivered in SLP (C) 14516 of 1999 observed that since the order passed under Section 17-B of the Industrial Disputes Act is a 'Judgment' within the meaning of Clause-10 of the Letters Patent of Patna and is, therefore, appealable.

“The cited decision is squarely applicable to the case in hand to entertain the L.P.A. Thus, Coordinate Bench has committed error on the question of law insofar as in not entertaining the Letters Patent Appeal. The appellant-Civil Review Petitioner has made out a case so as to interfere with the Coordinate Bench Order dated 13.12.2019 passed in L.P.A. No.691 of 2017. Accordingly, the order dated 13.12.2019 passed by the Coordinate Bench in L.P.A. No.691 of 2017 stands recalled while restoring L.P.A. No.691 of 2017.”, the court said.

Accordingly, the present Civil Review was allowed.

Appearance :

For the Petitioner : Mr. Birendra Kumar Jha, Advocate.

For the UOI : Mr. Ratnesh Kumar, Senior CGC. Mr. Aditya Anand, Advocate.

Case Details: Sri Uma Shankar Ram Versus The Bank of India & Ors., CIVIL REVIEW No.16 of 2020

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Pat) 62

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