IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
Dated: 28/07/2006
Coram
The Hon'ble Mr.Justice N.PAUL VASANTHAKUMAR
Writ Petition No.5726 of 1998
The Management
Gedee Weiler Pvt. Ltd.,
Gopal Bagh,
1062 Avanashi road,
Coimbatore 641 018 ...Petitioner
-Vs-
1.P. Swaminathan
2.The Presiding Officer,
Labour Court,
Coimbatore. ...Respondents
This writ petition has been filed under Article 226 of Constitution of
India, praying this Court to issue a writ of Certiorari, to call for the
records connected with order dated 27.2.1998 made by the Presiding Officer,
Labour Court, Coimbatore in C laint No.1/97 and quash the same.
!For Petitioner : Mr.Sanjay Mohan for
M/s.Ramasubramaniam and
Associates
^For 1st Respondent : Mr.K.V.Shanmuganathan
2nd Respondent : Court
:ORDER
Petitioner seeks to quash the order made in Complaint No.1 of 1997
dated 27.2.1998 on the file of the Labour Court, Coimbatore, the second
respondent herein.
2. Brief facts necessary for disposal of the writ petition are as
follows.
(a) Petitioner is engaged in the manufacture of High Precision
Capstan Lathes, Tool Room Lathes and Automats. Petitioner has got branches
all over the South India. The petitioner Management used to transfer/depute
personnel from its manufactur , who knows servicing, to all the branches for a
specific period depending upon the exigency of work.
(b) Petitioner Management received a letter on 23.6.1997 from the
Senior Sales Officer, Chennai branch, requesting to depute a person to attend
the complaint/service of Gedee Weiler Lathes. Pursuant to the said letter,
the first respondent was red to Chennai branch Office by order dated 5.7.1997.
The first respondent failed to comply with the said order and did not report
for duty at Chennai branch. Therefore, petitioner management initiated
disciplinary action against the first respondent.
(c) I.D.No.140 of 1997 was pending on the file of the second
respondent due to the reference dated 12.3.1997 with regard to a specific
issue as to whether the transfer of six individuals was justified or not. No
general issue with regard to the wer of the Management to transfer the
individuals was referred to be decided in the said industrial dispute. The
petitioner Management is the first respondent in the said I.D.No.140 of 1997.
(d) The first respondent alleged that the petitioner Management
contravened the provisions of section 33 of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947
in issuing the order of transfer to him while I.D.No.140 of 1997 was pending.
In the said proceeding i eged that the petitioner Management had no power to
transfer the first respondent and also alleged that the Model Standing Orders
did not provide for any transfer and therefore the Company has no power to
transfer the first respondent from one Unit to an other or from one unit to
the Madras Branch Office.
(e) The Management filed counter affidavit before the Labour Court
and contended that the complaint itself was wholly without jurisdiction and
there is no change in the service condition so as to attract Section 33 of the
Industrial Disputes Act and therefore the complaint is not maintainable
because the first respondent was neither concerned nor connected with the
dispute that was pending before the Labour Court in I.DNo.140 of 1997.
(f) Petitioner Management also contended that it has got power to
transfer and in fact transfers were made in the past and the first respondent
himself had been sent on deputation to sister concerns and he was also
transferred from Unit-I to Uni from Unit-II to Unit-I on earlier occasions.
The second respondent without going into the maintainability of the complaint
has gone into the matter on merits and directed the management to cancel the
transfer order dated 5.7.1997 and to post the first respondent at Coimbatore
itself and directed the Management to reinstate the first respondent with
backwages for the period of non-employment. The said order is challenged in
this writ petition.
3. The learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the
complaint itself is not maintainable because I.D.No.140 of 1997 is with regard
to a reference which dealt only with the question of individual transfers
issued to six workmen. As per o.204 dated 12.3.1997 there is no issue with
regard to the alteration of conditions of service. The learned counsel
therefore submitted that to maintain a complaint under section 33 of the
Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, there should be a change in the c onditions of
service of the workman and the said condition having not been satisfied in
this case, the second respondent has no jurisdiction to entertain the
complaint under section 33 of the Industrial Disputes Act. The learned
counsel also submitted t hat the Model Standing Order 33(2)(b) contemplates
not only express powers of right but also implied powers as well and the
Management exercised the implied powers and transferred the first respondent,
which the Management did earlier also by transferrin g the first respondent on
several occasions i.e., on 5.5.1994, 12.8.1994, 7.7.1995, 3.9.1995, etc., and
the first respondent also accepted the said transfers without any demur.
According to the learned counsel, some of the transfer orders were passed a t
the request of the first respondent himself and therefore the power to issue
transfer order is available to the petitioner Management and the second
respondent erroneously passed the order cancelling the same. The learned
counsel contended that once t here is power to transfer, then the petition
under section 33A concerning such transfer would not lie at all. The learned
counsel also cited the decision of the Full Bench reported in 1998 (4) LLN 804
(Correspondent, Malankara Syrian Catholic School, M arthandam v. J.Rabinson
Jacob and others) and stated that the power of transfer may be express or
implied and the implied power can be reasonably inferred to be included
directly in the power of appointment and suo-motu recorded as an ancillary
power.
4. The learned counsel for the first respondent submitted that
the first respondent has been victimised and the management has no power to
issue transfer orders and justified the order of the second respondent and
prayed for dismissal of the wr on.
5. I have considered the rival submissions of the learned counsel
appearing on either side.
6. The point in issue is whether the Labour Court is justified in
directing the petitioner Management to cancel the transfer order dated
5.7.1997 by giving a finding that the petitioner Management is not entitled to
transfer the first responden order is passed in the complaint made under
section 33A of the ID Act.
7. To attract Section 33-A, there must be a pending adjudication
during which time the conditions of service should have been altered. First
of all it has to be decided as to whether by the order of transfer the first
respondent’s conditions o has been altered or not. It is well settled in law
that transfer is an incident of service and the power of transfer may be
exercised by the management either expressly or impliedly. The very fact that
the first respondent himself was transferred seve ral times and the same have
been accepted by the first respondent without any demur clearly shows that the
first respondent admitted the implied power of the Management to transfer,
though not the same is stated expressly. It is not the case of the firs t
respondent that by virtue of the transfer his status is affected or his
emoluments are reduced. Unless there is reduction in the status or emoluments
there is no alteration of conditions of service.
8. The power of transfer vested with the management is considered
by this Court and the Honourable Supreme Court in very many decisions.
(a) In W.P.No.14291 of 1992 (The Workmen rep. by the Secretary,
Addisons Paints and Chemicals Ltd., Madras v. The Management of Addisons
Paints and Chemicals Ltd, Madras and another) by order dated 23.4.1993,
Justice M.Srinivasan (as he then was s follows,
“I agree with the learned Judge and hold that the absence of a
provision in the Standing Orders does not disentitle the management to pass an
order of transfer, particularly when in the contract of service, the employee
has undertaken to serve the c ny in any capacity as may be decided by the
company. It is only when the terms of the contract of service are
inconsistent with or contrary to the provisions of the Standing Orders, the
same is unenforceable. When there is no provision in the Standing Orders with
reference to a particular term in the contract of service, the latter can be
enforced.”
(b) In the decisions reported in 2004 (3) LLJ 749 (State of U.P.
v. Gobardhan Lal), the Honourable Supreme Court in paragraph 7 held as
follows,
“7. It is too late in the day for any Government servant to
contend that once appointed or posted in a particular place or position, he
should continue in such place, or position as long as he desires. Transfer of
an employee is not only an inc herent in the terms of appointment but also
implicit as an essential condition of service in the absence of any specific
indication to the contra, in the law governing or conditions of service.
Unless the order of transfer is shown to be an outcome of a mala fide exercise
of power or violative of any statutory provision (an Act or Rule) or passed by
an authority not competent to do so, an order of transfer cannot lightly be
interfered with as a matter of course or routine for any or every type of
griev ance sought to be made. Even administrative guidelines for regulating
transfers or containing transfer policies at best may afford an opportunity to
the officer or servant concerned to approach their higher authorities for
redress but cannot have the con sequence of depriving or denying the competent
authority to transfer a particular officer/servant to any place in public
interest and as is found necessitated by exigencies of service as long as the
official status is not affected adversely and there is no infraction of any
career prospects such as seniority, scale of pay and secured emoluments. This
Court has often reiterated that the order of transfer made even in
transgression of administrative guidelines cannot also be interfered with, as
they do n ot confer any legally enforceable rights, unless, as noticed supra,
shown to be vitiated by mala fides or is made in violation of any statutory
provision.”
(c) A Full Bench of this Court in the decision reported in 1998
(4) LLN 804 (Correspondent M.S.C. School v. J.Rabinson Jacob) at paragraph
26 held as follows,
“26. From the resume of the observations made above it can be
safely concluded that transfer is not necessarily included in the conditions
of service as a term of the conditions of service. Transfer is a specie of
appointment and being one of the of appointment, cannot be included in the
appointment itself unless it is expressly or impliedly provided for. Thus the
assumption that the power to transfer is included in the power of appointment
is unsustainable. Power to transfer involving the cessat ion of appointment
would depend upon the nature of the transaction involved. May be in peculiar
facts where it does not bring about any alterations of the conditions of
service, change of master, change of place, alteration in the terms of
appointment, usage prevalent in the statutory provisions, rules and
regulations and structure, duration of employment and various other
circumstances may provide for a lead that it is an incident of service. The
question whether it is an incident of service has to b e determined in the
facts and circumstances of each and every case is a question of facts.”
9. Applying the above settled principle to the case on hand, the
learned counsel for the petitioner pointed out that there is no finding given
by the second respondent as to how the first respondent’s conditions of
service is changed. The seco dent held that there is no inherent right to
transfer the workman. However, the second respondent failed to consider the
implied power of transfer available to the management, which the management
exercised several times and the first respondent also ac cepted the same
without any demur. In fact, in the evidence, WW-1 stated that 11 persons were
transferred and therefore it can be presumed that there is no victimisation
against the first respondent. By virtue of transfer the conditions of service
of t he first respondent is not affected and that is not the case of the first
respondent, i.e, either reduction in salary or reduction in rank.
10. The Labour Court having not given a finding as to how the
first respondent’s conditions of service is affected due to the transfer, the
petition filed under section 33-A of the ID Act is not maintainable and
section 33A itself is not attrac at being the position, there is no
contravention of section 33(1)(a). The finding given by the Labour Court that
the transfer of the first respondent is bad due to non-availability of
inherent right to transfer the first respondent herein, should be tre ated as
perverse finding because the first respondent got implied power which the
Management exercised against the first respondent. Hence the findings of the
Labour Court is not justified and the impugned order passed on Complaint No.1
of 1997 is liabl e to be set aside and accordingly set aside.
The writ petition is allowed as above. No costs.
vr
To
The Presiding Officer,
Labour Court,
Coimbatore.